Five Sisters, Five Families: Kitchen Table

Eating dinner together as a family is a top priority for us. Sometimes though, we have to make adjustments to our dining arrangements so the experience of eating together can be more pleasant.
In the kitchen we had been using my parents' dining table. It worked okay, but didn't fit quite right with our new kitchen storage bench. Plus, if the kids leaned on it the right way, it would tip up a bit. That was kind of weird because it is a solid oak table with pedestal-style legs. I was ready for a change, and something to match my new bench. Time to switch things around a bit.

First we had to come up with a design for our table. We wanted to fill the floor space inside our kitchen storage bench, and we wanted kids to be able to slide around the corners of the table without getting poked by a pointy edge. The legs were another problem that we went back and forth on. With the table and bench being banquet style, we didn't want 4 table legs that might get in the way of those sitting next to them. Pedestal-style legs were another option that we talked about, but we didn't want anything too chunky or ponderous. One day when we went to the thrift store I saw a table with exactly the right legs for our kitchen table. The top was junk-laminate covered fiber-board that had seen better days. The legs were solid wood though and looked in good condition. The store would sell me the table for $20. I didn't think it was worth $20. They let me have it for $15. Yea!

Sorry I didn't get a picture of the junk table. Here's a picture of the table we made after my husband stained it.

The entire time he was making the table I kept saying, "the table top looks way too wide," "it's too big." He assured me that for the space we had, the table top was the correct size.
It fits our space in the kitchen perfectly.

We borrowed a friend's miter saw to miter the corners. Since we were doing 45 degree cuts, instead of 90 degree cuts, and added trim to finish the edges, it was easier to use their saw instead of our miter box and hand saw.