All Your Base Are Belong To Us

Sing it with me: "It's beginning to look a lot like... a restaurant."

We got our chairs a few months ago, and now we're getting tables. It turns out, restaurant-supply places all have ugly tables. It's easy to find your basic Formica countertops with steel table legs, but a lot harder to find something that doesn't belong in a diner.

So we approached the problem piecemeal. Let's find good table bases we like, and then find separate tabletops to put on them. Only half of that plan worked.

We did finally find some nice table bases. They're heavy, which means they're awkward (read: expensive) to ship. We got eight of those: four for smaller tables and four larger ones. The smaller ones will accommodate two-person tables, while the larger ones should seat four.

Then we went hunting for tabletops, and that was a complete bust. Discouraged and disappointed, we suddenly had the aha! moment. If we're going to cover them with tablecloths anyway, who's going to see the tabletops? Let's make our own. How hard can it be?

Right now we're about halfway through the process. We've assembled all of the table bases and bought the wood for the tops. Yesterday I built the first four tabletops; the next four are today's project. They're 3/4-inch pine with 1x1 pine molding around the edges. Once they're sanded we'll stain them a nice dark color and finish with a few coats of clear varnish. That should give the tabletops a nice smooth finish that repels water and won't snag tablecloths.

I'll let you know how it goes.