The first draft of this post was a weak DIY outline for building a dining room table with matching benches. But, the more I looked it over the more I realized I’m unwilling to do true justice to explaining the how to the point of it being useful to someone else. There are far more qualified people out there who can tell you how to build a table so I’m simply using this post to document and celebrate that we did it.

The joy for me came in the designing and building of it from scratch, taking on another project in a realm I haven’t really dabbled in yet. My boyfriend and I built it rather intuitively, without following anyone’s instructions and only referring to a tutorial for dowel joinery.

Before I had the know-how, the tools, or the space for one, I knew I wanted to build a big dining room table. Well, in the last year, my life has reached a point where having a dining room table has both a place and a purpose. Conveniently, I’ve also (mostly) conquered my fear of saws.

We now have a beautiful, custom-made table perfect for sitting down to eat or accommodating sprawling work, with enough space to invite others to gather with us when we wish. There is something extra sweet about sitting down to eat in a room I helped renovate at a table I designed and built.