Saturday, March 22, 2014

Make Your Own Lego Table

If you have little boys who are obsessed with Legos (or even little girls like our almost 2 year old), chances are you've looked at Lego tables.....and were shocked by the prices. Have no fear, we have found a way to make your own Lego table easily and at very little cost.


Here is the step by step process we used for our boy's Lego table:

Step 1: Purchase table, Lego plates, and glue.


The 10 x 10 Lego plates we purchased from Amazon for $4.99 a plate. You can also find these size plates at Toys R Us for anywhere from $4.99-$6.99, depending upon sales.


The table I purchased at Wal-Mart for $12 (Mainstays Parsons side table) in their furniture section.


We used contact cement because we already had some on hand for another project, but I'm sure there are other types of glue you can use to adhere the Lego plates to the table top.You can find contact cement lots of places (hardware stores in particular) but we bought ours at Wal-Mart. I recommend using Low VOC contact cement if you're doing this inside because it doesn't contain hazardous fumes.

Step 2: Put table together. We used wood glue to secure the legs of the table. Once the wood glue dried, we lined up the Lego plates.



My husband used Legos to make sure the plates stayed together and in the proper place.....I'm pretty sure it was just his excuse to play with Legos.

Step 3: Put low tack painters tape around the edges of the table in case things get messy.


Step 4: Lightly sand the top of the table so the finish is off, then wipe clean. This makes the contact cement stick to the table top much better than if the finish was still on.



Step 5: Put contact cement on both the back of the Lego plates and the table top. When using contact cement, let it sit for about 15 minutes and then put the plates on the table top. Do it carefully because it sticks pretty darn well as soon as it comes together.


Step 6: Let dry for 24 hours.

Step 7: (24 hours later) Make sure the plates are securely on the table. Remove painters tape.



I found the perfect size bin at Wal-Mart for $6.50. It slides perfectly under the Lego table, latches so the lid won't easily fall off, and easy for the boys to remove. It's just a tad longer than the table itself, but it works perfectly....that is until the boys accumulate more Legos.

Step 8: PLAY!!



The boys have been playing with their Legos almost non-stop since we put the table in their room. We're so happy we easily made this for them instead of forking over more money for a pre-built table. The possibilities with this are endless: one could easily attach mesh bags to one or more of the sides so the Legos are easily accessible during play (although the plastic bin I purchased already makes this easy so I didn't feel the need to attach any to our table), we put over sized pillows on the floor so the kids can comfortably sit and build, switch up the colors for the Lego plates (this is the configuration the boys wanted), find a bit bigger table and add two more Lego plates (you're working with super easy measurements- 10 x 10), etc.

Happy building and creating your own Lego table!