Building My Homeschool Work Table
Before I could start teaching, I needed a new table
Years ago, when my seven-year-old daughter was still a baby, I threw together a dining room table. I thought it would be useful for kid crafts as she and her big brother (now nine) grew. It wasn’t bad, very solid — in fact the little ones loved standing on it. However it was much too rough, with big gaps between the boards, for use in an academic setting. What’s more, years of craft projects had left it stained with old kiddie paints, marker- smears, and glitter glue. Well, since I decided this summer to teach my kids myself (thanks so much covid), I realized I’d need someplace to teach.
Inspired by the always-impressive imagery on places like Pinterest, I thought I’d up my carpentry game. Before this I’d only built rough shelves (and one very rough dining table) using utility-grade pine. Not this time. Not this time!
- The Benches
I figured benches would be a bit more flexible than the chairs we were using, so I started there. I started by cutting some 1x4 boards to serve as the frames. I also glued/screwed some together to serve as legs, but I ran out so one bench uses 2x4s as legs. For the top I glued together pairs of 1x8 boards, clamping them tight and screwing them to the frames. Note: I’m using the old beat-up dining table as my work table. Here you can see a completed bench standing behind.
And here are the two completed benches, ready for staining. Just to make it look more rustic, I “distressed” the wood by banging it with various objects, as I heard it would show up once the stain was applied.
2. The Table
Now I decided to make my life complicated by including the kind of cubby-slot spaces you might find in some school desks. Originally I thought I could make sections of the tabletop hinged, to make the interior more easily accessible, but that indicated a daunting level of precision cutting and measuring. Even so, I still had to put together a rather complicated framing system that would allow for four slots — my two kids, plus, potentially, two more if I decided to pod. For the cubby bottoms I used plywood squares of the type used for the bottoms of desk drawers, with slots cut out with a hand router.
Here the framing assembly is complete, as seen from the underside. You can see the four cubbies. Looks kind of like a door, doesn’t it? The opening in the middle is for electrical cabling (more on that later).
Here’s the frame seen from the upper side (the top planks haven’t been installed yet). I’ve stained it a shade of brown called “Provincial.” You’ll notice I’ve installed table legs. These were aluminum tube assemblies I got cheap, but I ended up replacing them because they were just too wobbly.
For the planking, I used a single 1x8 plank along the centre, and a pair of 1x16s on each side. Total dimensions of the top are 38” x 72” (around 3ft x7ft). I used a drill saw to cut a pair of holes for power grommets, which I bought on Amazon. In this photo, I’m about to start varnishing. I used three coats of a varnish that says it’s three coats in one. The new legs I bought at Home Depot for around CDN$20 a pop.
And here’s the whole thing, completed and installed, and being inspected by my lady Sophie. I purchased the lamps on Amazon, but ended up only using one of the power grommets because I didn’t want cords everywhere (there’s a long extension cord attached to the underside of the table with velcro). All ready for school!
Fun fact: on the last day of varnishing, with the table and benches drying in the driveway, I went inside to cook dinner. Only as we were finishing eating did I realize there was a thunderstorm outside. I ran out to bring in the furniture, but was happily aware that all the water had beaded up; the downpour didn’t cause any damage at all, yay!
Not pictured is a simple shelf I built to go along with the table, but This whole project was quite a bit of work, and a bit stressful because it was more advanced than anything I’d ever done before, but I’m really pleased with the results. I hope you are too!
