Friday, January 27, 2012

Make a Child Size Folding Table Easily

If you have kids around you need a table just their size for all kinds of reasons. But finding a good one at a good price is hard. Here’s one solution to try.
Why not purchase a plastic folding table, and cut the legs down to size? They fold up very flat and are very durable; kid tough! Clean up on these is a breeze. 
We used a four foot table like this. Notice the legs are straight. We needed to cut off nine inches to make the table the size we wanted, 20 inches high.
To cut them, my husband first used a pipe cutter like this. Cheap at Home Depot.
He didn't get them exactly even so he then used a roto zip tool

with a grinder attachment like this to grind them even. Then he replaced the leg plugs; those plastic tips.
Or you could replace them with these rubber tips. If you find you still have a little wobble due to uneven leg length, use these rubber tips and put some paper or cardboard in the tip for the short leg.

I love my kid height table; it fits in the space between my fridge and the wall perfectly, ready to use at a moments notice. I will admit though; I think with nine grand kids I should have used the six foot table! I found used kids chairs on Craigs list.
If you try this, just make sure the legs are ones with a shape that can be cut.
This round one would work great too.

 I don't think this one would work, unless you only wanted to shorten it an inch or two, so what would be the point?
This one would not work at all.

This one wouldn't work either.


This one would, but maybe only a few inches shorter.

I would love to hear about it if you use this idea!

I linked this post at Grandma's briefs.

*Join me in for my new link up party, Wow Us Wednesdays.*

8 comments:

  1. Must be wonderful to have a good handyman husband! (Mine thinks that he's a handyman, but he lacks the knack for precision work.)

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  2. I love this idea. And your examples of "this would work" and "this wouldn't work" made my smile. I imagine it would do wonders for big family gatherings, such as those during the holidays. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. We would have been wise to do this when Amara was little -- especially for use at those birthday parties. Great idea.

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  4. Great idea! But I would never get my husband to accomplish this project. He would try, but he'd never get it exactly right. I love him loads, even though he thinks he's handy, but he's not.

    Stopping by from GRAND Social linky.

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  5. This is a great idea! A kid-sized table is wonderful to have. I bought my grandsons the Pottery Barn Kids Carolina craft table and 6 chairs for their second birthday. It has seen so much use and my daughter says it is the best gift ever! They have room for it to stay out permanently, but for grandparents your idea is so much better! But would I trust my husband to cut the legs down evenly? I'm not sure! Wish I just lived next door to you!

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  6. Loved this idea the first time around. Thank you for the reminder of it because it's exactly what I need to do for some of the upcoming BBQs and family gatherings!

    Thank you so much for linking to GRAND Social!

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  7. I really like that I can fold it away. I hope I didn't make it seem hard to do because it really is very easy with that cutter gadget. Just remember to "measure twice, cut once" and not the other way around like we did :)

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  8. It will be highly beneficial to get multipurpose folding tables so that they can be used for displaying products at trade shows or exhibitions, apart from carrying them with you while going out for a picnic.

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Thank you SO much for taking the time to leave a comment!