Play Table Project

I thought for sure I posted on this a while back, but I guess not.

After sorting the Legos (ugh…) and storing them in the guest bedroom closet it became apparent that this was going to be a place where most of the building was going to be done.  First, it is a big enough space for several kids to play in.  Second, hauling bin after bin of bricks someplace else to build only to be told to put them back after an hour or so is, understandably, a hassle that would discourage the six-year-old and his friends from playing with them at all.

There was a small 27” x 27” x 21” table in there that was being used for some building and its location out of the way in the corner was great.  It just didn't have the surface area needed to make it a good workstation for more than one kid.  I wanted to make a play table that 1) increased the play area 2) matched the closet color and 3) did not get in the way of everything.

1 and 2 were easy - make a bigger table and paint it white.   Making it bigger without blocking access to the shelves was the real concern here. There was an 11-inch support for shelving in the closet that determined the maximum length of the table.  I used the 27” x 27”  footprint of the old table as a basis for the new one and added a section that tapered down from 27” to 11” over the length of the new section.

I used two paint-grade 6’ x 2’ composite pine boards for the top and skirt pieces and some scrap pine for the legs.  After the pieces were all cut (and, in some cases, re-cut because I screwed up) the boy helped me with the assembly and painting.  We make a good team.

The end result (upper left pic) is an oddly shaped 69” long table that is out of the way and has roughly double the surface area of the old one.  It is not what you would call an “heirloom piece” by any stretch of the imagination (nothing I make is, really :)) but it is big enough, it is sturdy enough, and, doggone it, the boy likes it.