Thanks all for the advice and all of the discussion. Thought I'd just pop back in here and give an update on my project. I decided to scale back the scale of my project because it seemed like it'd probably be pretty dumb to go all out on the first real project.
After watching a ton of YouTube videos, I finally found one to
base my project off of, though I wanted to change a couple of things. Instead of going for expensive hardwoods, I just went and grabbed some cheap pine from Home Depot. Glued two 1x12 and one 1x10 and together and lined some wood along the edges so that it had a slightly thicker look. I also braced the underside with some 1x4s for some more support. I then sanded and cut all of the edges and rounded the corners with an orbital sander.
After using a pre-stain, I covered the top and sides with a Minwax Oil Stain - Special Walnut. One coat seemed to do the trick. I then finished with about 7-8 coats of Minwax Oil Polyurethane diluted 1:1 with mineral spirits, sanding with 220 grit sandpaper in between.
I bought some 29" hairpin legs off of Amazon and screwed them in with the hardware that it came with.
I bought a couple of small tools and borrowed a bunch to make the table. I think it turned out pretty well! The final table dimensions ended up being 59" x 34".
Since it's pine, I know I should be expecting some nicking up of the surface over time, which is fine. I don't think I'll see any table sag, but I guess I'll have to see. I know it's obviously not a complicated or amazing project or anything, but it was immensely satisfying for me to see it come together. Hopefully it holds up! I think everything cost me about $250 in direct material costs to make, though it was a lot more expensive for me because I had to buy some of the other stuff (i.e. made an excuse to buy a new power drill and impact driver). This first foray was a ton of fun and now I want to build all of my furniture myself haha.
Final product:
Thanks again for the advice!