I gave away my front porch table to someone that needed it more than I did so I needed a table. The Vintage Schoolhouse Small Play Table (https://www.thedesignconfidential.com/2011/11/free-woodworking-plans-buil… ) fit the bill but with some revisions.
I took the plans and changed the 2xs to 1xs and the 4×4 to 2×4 and I added a side stretcher to each side. No wheels also. The revised plans were then tackled by two ten year old kids named Jonathan and Haley. Under my strict safety supervision and occassional acting as a human clamp, Jonathan and Haley measured, cut, sanded, drilled PHs, applied glue, and connected the pieces with PH screws. They did a great job. I built the top but the kids installed the top with PH screws through the inside of the aprons. They did not glue the top down so it could be removed for finishing and maybe repair later. A couple of pictures show them and their handywork. They did a great job.
I took on the task of staining and painting. The finished table now sits on my front porch ready to hold that next cup of coffee.
The dimensions changed slightly from the plans to:
Height 201/4 inches
Length 441/2 inches
Width 291/8 inches
I estimate the cost to be about $30.
The basic build time was about 3 hours. Easy to do quicker but I took my time with the kids doing the work. Finishing added another off and on day.
Pine except the top is cedar because Big Blue did not have pine in 1×8 and I did not want to fight the traffic to see what Big Orange had in stock. So I bought Cedar.
After cutting the parts and prior to construction everything was sanded to 220 grit level.
Base was painted (2 coats) with Behr Premium Plus Ultra (Royal Orchard) that I had left over from painting the front door.
The top was stained with Minwax Red Mahogany 225 and then I applied two coats of Rust-Oleum Ultimate Polyurethane
