How to Design a Harvest Table

A harvest table comes in handy in autumn when you need a table to display your bounty, or as a decorative table for indoor or outdoor dining. You'll see them sell for thousands of dollars in furniture stores, but for a fraction of the cost you can design and build a simple harvest table using wood and a few additional supplies. Document the process on paper and you'll have a design to share with friends. Does this Spark an idea?

Instructions

1

Sketch your design on paper. Sketch four planks as the tabletop and four posts as the table legs. Follow these instructions to build the table, or simply gather the materials and go through the motions in order to finish the details of your design, adjusting them to fit your needs or design preferences.

2

Plan and sketch the centerpiece design, such as pine cones and a cornucopia, to create an attractive harvest table design.

3

Place four 2-inch-by-8-inch Douglas Fir planks side by side. These will make up the top of your harvest table, equaling an 8-foot-long by approximately 32-inch-wide table top. Adjust these measurements as necessary, if you want a larger or smaller table. Harvest tables are typically built on a grand scale--6 feet or longer.

4

Saw a fifth 2-inch-by-8-inch Douglas Fir plank into two 32-inch-long pieces.

5

Place the two 32-inch pieces about 14 inches from each table end. Drill four pairs of screws from the top of the table, one pair through each of the four planks, and through the fifth plank board placed perpendicularly below the four planks. Repeat this step for the second piece of the fifth plank.

6

Saw four Douglas Fir 4-inch-by-4-inch posts so that each is 35 inches long. Use a level to make sure the cut is perfectly even.

7

With the tabletop upside down, place the first table leg up against the first piece of the fifth plank that was secured in step two. Place it 3 inches from the table edge. Apply wood glue to the bottom of the post that meets the underside of the tabletop, as well as the side that meets the plank. Secure the post to the plank with two long screws drilled 1 inch from each end of the side of the post furthest away from the plank. Drill them through the post and into the middle of the edge of the plank. Repeat this step for the remaining three posts.

8

Flip the table right-side up and rest it on its new legs. Further secure the legs by drilling two screws from the top of the table into each post, avoiding the previous screws in the post on the underside of the table by drilling these new screws into the post just 1 inch apart from each other.

9

Sand the rough edges of the table. Stain the wood or allow it to weather naturally.

10

Place harvest bounty in baskets on the top of the table attractively--or use harvest-themed decorations, such as Indian corn, autumn leaves, cornucopia and pine cones scattered down the center of the table.

11

Sketch out the process in detail on a piece of paper, including drawing each step, to complete your design.