Train Table

My son’s 3rd birthday was a few days ago. My wife thought a train table would be a good gift. She did a lot of research and found a one at Pottery Barn that she liked:

It was pretty expensive. I can’t remember exactly how much it was…I think it was around $250-$300 (plus shipping).

I looked around on the internet and found another design:

It was reasonably priced…but I thought it was the father’s duty to build it.

Below is my version. It is very close the Pottery Barn version. I spent about $100 in materials. My wife bought the play mat that is on it in the picture for about $15. The magic dimensions of all the train tables is 48″ X 32″. The top is made out of MDF (Medium Density Fiber). I highly recommend that for any table…it is very smooth and has high strength to thickness ratio. I bought some 4″ X 1″ pine and nailed it around. I added a little more height to this element. My reason is simple: containment.

For the legs, I just bought Parson legs from Lowe’s and screwed them on.

Very simple and sturdy. It hard to see in the picture, but I did create the 2 drawers. These are just a simple box of 12″ X 1″ pine with MDF for the bottom. Add a few casters and it’s already to go.

Finally, I just stained it. The whole project took about 4 hours to do.