Lately it seems all my projects are for the kid. She's outgrowing everything including her furniture. My parents originally bought her the Jill Table and the Little Jake Chairs from Room and Board. I love them. I put them in a corner of our living room where she could play and I could easily see her. The problem is that the table is too tall for toddlers so I replaced it with a little red one I bought off Craigslist.
I've come to understand that toddler craft tables are only temporary. At this age there are a lot of accidents with glue and paints. Most of the accidents can be wiped clean but there are many that can't. We do a lot of art activities so we have many "notches" on our poor little red table. Besides getting "Jackson Pollacked" the red table can't hold all of P's projects. It can't accommodate the space she now needs for crayons, papers, etc and a space for her to work.
I've been thinking about what to do because I didn't want to shell out a lot for a table that looks cool but is temporary. (The Jill Table is in storage for when she gets older. ) I also didn't want to get something cheap that didn't look good. This table is in our living room. I'm trying to inch my way to better looking furniture as fast as our budget allows.
I came up with a great solution at Ikea. Our lovely friends at Hairpinlegs.com offered to give us a set of legs because of a successful order we did with them a few months ago. The bench I made for the entry way got so much attention Ian extended a thank you our way. While shopping at Ikea I noticed they had plenty of table tops including one that's a perfect size for kids. However, they don't have short legs to accommodate a toddler's height. I remembered the hairpin legs! The Vika Amon table top comes in white and is available online only in the larger size for $19.99. However, in the store they have a smaller size. The 39x23" is $4! I screwed in the legs to the table top and made this craft table for P.
The genius of this solution is that she can trash the table top and I can replace it for $4! When she's outgrown this table height I can use the legs for a coffee table, bench, or night table for us. I used 18" high legs. Four of these range between $72-108, which I would have ordered anyway if I wasn't given a set. I love how cool the table looks in our living room and it goes so well with the Little Jake Chairs. Mostly, I love that the legs will have a long life in our home probably way past P's departure for college!
Labels: kid space, living room
