The easy way on how to build a dining room table is to make a wood table top from quality lumber, then attach metal legs to table top quickly by mounting plate.
A dining table built this way is just as strong and attractive as traditionally constructed tables, but takes significantly less time to complete.
In this guide, Flowyline will walk you through exactly how to build a dining table step by step for those looking for budget diy dining room upgrades.
By the next day, you could be sitting at your very own handmade diy round dining room table or even a rectangular one, feeling pretty proud of yourself. Read more!
What is the Easy Way to Build a Dining Room Table Out of Wood?
The thing about most dining table-building guides is that they make it way too complicated. They'll tell you about techniques that take years to master.
But there's a much simpler way for beginners that still gives you a gorgeous, sturdy kitchen table you'll be proud to own.
Instead of trying to build everything from scratch, we're going to be clever about it. You'll make a beautiful wooden table top with your own hands, then pair it with strong metal dining table legs that you can buy ready-made at an affordable price.

How to build a large dining table
Credit: Flowyline
Shop now: 307 Tulipe 28" Industrial Metal Table Base
In this How to Build a Dining Room Table free plan, you’ll get:
- A table that looks completely handmade
- The satisfaction of building something yourself
- Professional-quality results without years of practice
- A project you can actually finish (and enjoy!)
Your dining room deserves better than something that looks homemade in all the wrong ways.
With 120+ quality furniture legs supporting your wooden masterpiece, you'll have friends asking where you bought such a stunning table. And you'll get to say you built it yourself.
Tools Needed to Make a Dining Room Table
Most of these items for building a dining room table you can pick up at any home improvement store in one trip. Here is the shopping list:
1. Essential Tools for Your DIY Dining Table
Tool | Why You Need It |
---|---|
Miter saw or circular saw | Make precise crosscuts for lumber length and clean, square edges |
Random orbital sander | Create a smooth, even surface finish without swirl marks |
Drill with various bits | Essential for pilot holes, mounting hardware, and assembly |
Bar clamps (at least 4) | Hold boards together during glue-up for strong, tight joints |
Measuring tape and square | Ensure accurate measurements and square cuts throughout the project |
Safety glasses and a dust mask | Protect eyes from debris and lungs from wood dust |
Adjust levelers (already included with our premium legs) |
Ensure your finished dining table sits perfectly flat and stable |
2. Materials for Building a Farmhouse Table
Material | Why You Need It |
---|---|
4 — 6 pieces of lumber (2x10 or 2x12 boards, 8 ft long) | This lumber becomes your actual table surface. The bigger the boards, the wider your table. |
Wood glue | Create strong, permanent bonds between boards that are stronger than wood itself |
Sandpaper (120, 150, 220, 320 grit) | Progressive grits smooth surface from rough to finish-ready |
Wood stain or finish of choice | Enhance wood grain and provide color to match your décor |
Polyurethane protective coating | Protect table surface from water, heat, and daily wear |
Metal dining table legs | table base | Provide sturdy, professional-grade support without complex woodworking |
Mounting hardware | Securely attaches legs to the top (already included with our premium legs) |
Felt pads | Protect your floors from scratches and reduce noise when you move chairs around. |
Cost to Build Dining Table vs Store Bought
How to build a wooden dining room table in a cost breakdown:
- Lumber: $100 — $200
- Metal table legs: From $170
- Finish supplies: $40 — $60
- Total: $300 — $650
So, compare this to $800 — $2000+ for similar store-bought dining tables. You can find that building your dining table saves significant money while creating something uniquely yours. Below is how to build a dining table right away. Let’s scroll down!
How to Build a Dining Room Table Easily: Step-by-Step Guide
This 11-step process of DIY dining table plans takes you from raw lumber to a finished dining table in about 1 — 2 days, including drying time for glue and finish.
You'll spend roughly 8 — 10 hours of actual work time, with most of that going into sanding and finishing.
Step 1: Plan Your DIY Wood Dining Room Table Dimensions
Before starting your dining room table plans, we should determine the right size for your space and family needs.
Standard dining table measurements:
- Height: 28 — 30 inches (metal legs handle this perfectly)
- Width: 36 — 42 inches for comfortable seating
- Length: 60 inches seats 4 — 6 people, 72+ inches seats 6 — 8 people

Free DIY dining room table plans with measurements
Photo: Flowyline
Besides, if you’re wondering "how many chairs should be in a dining table," we suggest planning for 24 inches of table length per person. A 72-inch table comfortably seats 6 people with room for serving dishes.
You might like: How to Measure Dining Table 2025: Ultimate Guide for Perfect Fit
Step 2: Select the Best Wood to Build a Dining Room Table
You’ll need to take your time with this step because it makes all the difference in how your table turns out. Skip the big home improvement stores if you can.
Instead, you find a local lumber yard. These folks know their wood and will let you pick through the boards yourself.
Best wood options for how to build a dining room table plans:
- Pine: Affordable, easy to work with, takes stain well
- Oak: Durable, classic grain pattern, slightly more expensive
- Maple: Hard, smooth finish, excellent for painted tables
- Douglas Fir: Strong, budget-friendly, good for rustic dining table DIY

When building a dining table, you should look for straight, flat boards with minimal knots
Photo: Freepik
Lumber selection tips: When you're browsing the lumber, you're basically looking for boards that play well together. Here's what to check:
- Choose kiln-dried boards (6 — 8% moisture content)
- Look for straight, flat boards with minimal knots
- Select boards with similar grain patterns
- Buy 10 — 15% extra for waste and defects
Step 3: Prepare Your Workshop for Building a Farmhouse Table
Next, you need enough room to store your wood, cut and shape it, put everything together, and apply the finish. When it comes to storing your lumber, find a flat, dry spot where your boards can get used to your workshop.

You need enough room to build a dining room table
Photo: Freepik
Furthermore, you shouldn’t stack them on top of each other. Instead, you put small wooden strips between each board so air can flow around them. Let the wood sit like this for at least a week, but two weeks is even better.
During this time, your wood adjusts to whatever temperature and humidity you have in your workshop. This really matters because it stops the wood from warping or moving around after you've already built your dining table.
Step 4: Cut Lumber for Your Modern Dining Table Plans
We use a miter saw or circular saw to cut all boards to your desired table length, plus one extra inch. Why? That extra inch gives you some wiggle room in case the ends have splits or other problems, and it lets you trim everything perfectly.

Cut all boards to your desired table length plus one extra inch
Photo: Freepik
For those asking, "How many 2x4 to build a table?" This dining table project uses 2x10 or 2x12 boards for the tabletop.
You typically need 4 — 6 boards, depending on your desired table width. 2x4s aren't suitable for dining table tops, but work well for bases in traditional dining room table plans.
Step 5: Prepare Perfect Edges for Your DIY Dining Table
The difference between a table that looks homemade and one that looks professional comes down to how well your boards fit together. You need edges that are straight, square, and smooth so the glue can do its job properly.
Getting your edges ready for building a dining farmhouse table:
- A jointer gives you the best, straightest edges if you have one
- If you don't have a jointer, use a sharp table saw blade and take your time
- Please put all your boards together before you glue anything to make sure they fit right
- Mark where each board goes so you don't mix them up later
What you're looking for are edges that fit together perfectly with no gaps when you clamp them together lightly.
If you can see light between the boards or feel gaps when you run your finger along the joint, you need to work on those edges some more.
Step 6: Glue Up Your Wooden Dining Room Table Top
This step is the big moment on how to build a wood dining room table, where you turn all those separate boards into one solid tabletop.
How to glue your boards together:
- Lay out your boards so the grain goes in alternating directions (to keep your tabletop from warping)
- Apply a thin, even layer of wood glue on both edges that will touch each other
- Start clamping from the middle and work your way out to the ends using bar clamps
- Keep checking that everything lines up as you add more clamps
- Wipe off any glue that squeezes out right away with a damp cloth
- Let it cure for a full 24 hours before you do anything else
Pro tip for building a farmhouse dining table: You need to work fast. Most wood glues only give you about 10 to 15 minutes before they start to set up, so have everything ready before you start spreading glue.
Step 7: Flatten and Sand Your DIY Wood Table
After your glue has had time to cure, you'll need to flatten and smooth your tabletop to get that professional look.

How to build a dining room table by using 120 to 220-grit sandpaper
Photo: Freepik
How to sand your dining table:
- 120-grit: Remove tool marks and level high spots
- 150-grit: Smooth surface preparation
- 220-grit: Final preparation for finishing
A random orbital sander works best for this job (if you have one). After that, you vacuum up all the dust between each different grit, as leftover dust from coarser sandpaper will scratch your surface when you move to finer grits.
Step 8: Trim Your Wooden Dining Room Table to Final Size
Now that your tabletop is smooth and flat, we can cut it to the exact size you want. You use a circular saw with a sharp blade and clamp a straight board along the cut line to guide the saw.
After you've made your cuts, take some 220-grit sandpaper and gently round over all the edges just a little bit. This makes the table feel good when you touch it and stops the wood from chipping when you apply the finish later.
Step 9: Choose Metal Legs for Your DIY Dining Table
Pick heavy-duty metal legs that match the style you want and will actually work for how you'll use your table.
Popular styles for your farmhouse table:
- Single dining table base: Give you that mid-century modern look
- Industrial and Farmhouse pipe legs: Perfect if you like that urban loft feel
- Sleek gold steel legs: Great for a clean, contemporary style
- Round ornate metal legs: Work well if you want something more traditional

Pick metal table legs for your DIY Dining Table
Credit: Flowyline
Shop now: Table Base 304 Dentro 28H for Dining Design Furniture
Things you need to think about:
- Make sure they can handle the weight. You should consider how many people will be sitting at your table and what you'll put on it
- Check that you can actually easily attach them to your tabletop with the tools you have
- Look for legs with adjustable feet so you can level your table even if your floor isn't perfectly flat
- Get ones with powder coating so they won't rust or scratch easily
Step 10: Apply Finish to Your Dining Room Table
The right finish protects your homemade wood table and makes the wood's natural beauty really pop.
How to finish your dining table:
- Give it one final sanding with 220-grit paper
- Vacuum up every bit of dust because even tiny particles will show up in your finish
- If you're using softwood like pine, put on pre-conditioner first so the stain goes on evenly
- Apply your stain exactly as the directions on the can tell you to
- Apply 2 or 3 coats of polyurethane to protect the wood and make it durable
- Between each coat, sand lightly with 320-grit paper to smooth out any bumps

On the 5th step of how to build a dining room table, we apply a finish to protect the surface
Photo: Freepik
Pro tips: We highly recommend testing your stain on a scrap piece of the same wood first. What looks good on the color chart might look completely different on your actual wood. You don't want any surprises after you've already put it on your table.
Step 11: Install Metal Legs on Your DIY Dining Table
To the last step on how to build a dining room table, we turn your beautiful tabletop into a real dining table.
How to attach the table legs to the dining table top:
- Figure out where your legs should go — usually about 6 to 8 inches in from each corner
- Drill small pilot holes first so you don't split the wood when you put in the screws
- Attach the mounting plates to your table top
- Connect your legs to the mounting hardware
- Use the adjustable feet to make sure your table sits level
Read more: How to Attach Legs to a Table without Apron
Don’t forget to move your finished table to where you're actually going to use it before you do the final adjustments. Your floor might not be perfectly level, and you'll want to get everything just right in its real home.
Below, we’ve embedded a video to show how to attach legs to a table. This way, you will have more visuals to understand each step clearly.
Build Your Own Wood Dining Table Kit Alternative
Although our guide shows you how to build a dining room table from scratch, some people like to use build-your-own table kits instead. But when you start with raw lumber, you get some real advantages:
- You can make your table exactly the size and style you want.
- You get to pick out the best pieces of wood instead of getting whatever comes in the kit.
- You'll save a lot of money compared to buying a kit or a finished table.
- There's nothing quite like the feeling of building something completely from scratch with your own hands.
FAQs
1. Is it Hard to Build a Dining Room Table?
It depends on what you're comfortable with. If you're handy with basic tools and have built things before, a simple table is definitely doable.
You'll need a saw, drill, and some sandpaper. The hardest part is usually making sure everything is level and the legs don't wobble.
However, if you decide to use metal legs for table top, it makes it a lot easier because you skip the hardest parts of traditional table building, but still end up with something that looks professional.
2. What is the Best Wood to Build a Dining Room Table Out of?
The best wood to build a dining room table is Oak. It's tough as nails and looks great. Maple is another solid choice that's a bit lighter in color.
If you want something really nice, walnut has that rich, dark look, but it costs more. Cherry is beautiful too and gets prettier with age. For a woodworker on a budget, pine works fine if you're planning to paint it.
3. How Many Chairs Should Be in a Dining Table?
Standard seating guidelines for your completed dining room table:
- 60-inch table: 4 — 6 chairs
- 72-inch table: 6 chairs comfortably, 8 maximum
- 84-inch table: 8 chairs comfortably
- 96-inch table: 8 — 10 chairs
Most families buy 4 — 6 chairs for daily use. Also, you should allow 24 inches of table length per person for comfortable seating.
4. How Many 2x4 to Build a Table?
This specific dining room table plan uses 2x10 or 2x12 boards for the tabletop, not 2x4s. However, for reference:
- Traditional table bases might use 8-12 2x4s
- This metal leg approach eliminates the need for 2x4 base construction
- Focus the lumber budget on quality tabletop boards instead
How to Build a Dining Room Table Plans Summary
Congrats! You've just turned $300 — 650 in lumber and metal legs into a dining table that stores would sell for $800 — $2000.
The whole process took you maybe 8 — 10 hours spread over a weekend. And you only needed three tools: a saw to cut the boards, a sander to smooth everything out, and a drill for the legs.
Ready for your next project? We've got plenty more furniture blogs that walk you through everything step by step. Got questions about your build or need advice on materials? Simply reach out to us, we love helping people succeed with their DIY projects!
This guide gives you everything you need for how to build a dining room table easy:
- Phase 1: Planning your table and picking out your materials
- Phase 2: Getting your lumber ready and gluing it together
- Phase 3: Sanding smooth and applying the finish
- Phase 4: Putting on the metal legs and final assembly
Thank you for reading!