Look what I made... A Little Table

If you haven't heard of Ana White's website, you are missing out.  She has TONS of fantastic plans to build your own furniture.  They are super easy to follow.  I loved these end tables, but i didn't need end tables, I needed a table for my little man to play on.  I had already purchased 2 chairs for him and have thought about what to do about a table for a long time.  When I saw these plans... I knew exactly what I wanted.

I had to change the plans a bit to work for what I needed.  A standard kid table was 20 inches so I decided to go with that.  I didn't want the top to be so chunky or his little legs wouldn't fit under it at 20 inches tall, so I used 1x2s and 1x4 instead of  2x4s.  It worked beautifully!  Here are my sketches of the changes I made to make it work for a little table (Warning: I am still very old fashioned when it comes to sketching anything... I like my paper and pencil.  These are scanned into the computer but I did add readable labels instead of my chicken scratch.  Good Luck reading them.):

 

Jenni gave me some 24ish inch 4x4 posts that they had left over from her fence project.  Then all I had to buy were 2-1x2s @ 8' long and 3-1x4s @ 8' long.  I started by cutting all the pieces for the frame.  Make sure you are very precise or your table will be uneven and wobbly.  I just used a miter saw for this.

Then following Ana's awesome instructions I got the frame put together.  One thing she says is to use a counter sink bit on when you are predrilling the holes for the screws.  I thought I could get away without it since I didn't have one... well I split the first 3 boards I tried to screw on. Ugh!  Then I ran to the Home Depot and bought one.  It was super easy to get this put together after that.  So go buy a counter sink bit first and save yourself the headache (and wood).

Here is the frame all put together.  Oh so pretty.

Now it is time for the top.  When I cut my 28" long boards for the sides, I assumed that my 1x4s were 3 1/2" inches wide so when I got it all put together, I had a little overhang on either side that needed to be carefully cut with a jigsaw.  I would recommend measuring the 1x4s and multiplying it by 8 then use that as you measurement for the two end pieces on the top.  Hopefully no-one will ever notice the slightly less then perfect edges of the top :)  I made sure to sand them very well.

I got all the screw holes filled with wood filler, sanded and put on a couple coats of Bright White paint and PRESTO!  A beautiful table for little man.  We celebrated the finished project by having a popcorn party!

He absolutely loves his table.  It is just the right height for him and he uses it for everything now :)  And a BIG THANKS to my handsome hubby who took these fabulous pics for me!

This project took me about 4 hours to assemble the table, then a few more hours to finish it up (over a few days because I had to wait for paint to dry).  It cost me about $15 dollars since I didn't have to buy any 4x4s and I had left over paint/primer from his bedroom redo.  It was so worth it!  And following Ana's plans was so easy.  I already have a list of other plans from her site that I want to try :)

Happy Building!