Build Diary: Playroom Table + Bench

by Dan Dombrowski

When our good friends requested a matching table and bench for their playroom, I was excited to tackle to project. I’d recently upgraded the shop with a benchtop thickness planer, and I was finally ready to build a large project starting from rough-cut lumber rather than paying a premium for pre-milled boards from a big box store.

Not only does milling the wood myself cut materials costs way down, which in turn cuts final price for the client, it also results in a higher-quality final project with thicker, sturdier boards all around.

I took a ton of pictures throughout the process so I could send our friends updates (something I do for every client who requests it), and I even managed to take a few videos. I’ll keep the text relatively brief as there are a LOT of pictures to get through. Here we go.

Design

The initial inspiration for the table came from this Shanty 2 Chic Playroom Table Build. The bench came from this Instructables article. Our friends were concerned about sharp edges, so after throwing together a model of the table and bench essentially as originally designed with custom dimensions, I started playing with different designs for the tabletop to soften the corners (click to activate rotation in all models):

Going with the round corners, I then added a radius to the top edges to soften things a little more, and I added in the bench:

As a final tweak, I widened the stance of the legs on the table to make it more stable and to help it match the bench better visually:

With final approval from our friends, I headed out to buy a stack of pine from a local mill.

Milling and Cutting

When I brought the stack of rough cut pine home, here’s what it looked like sitting on my workbench.

Wish I had taken more pictures. This doesn’t really do justice to just how *rough* rough-cut lumber is, but you get some idea.

And here’s what the stack looked like after milling it with the planer and jointer:

The jointer flattens one face and squares up an edge while the planer makes the opposite face parallel and dimensions the board to a precise thickness. The final edge is left rough and is cut parallel to the first on the table saw.

I grabbed a video of putting a couple boards through the planer while bringing all the boards down to their final thickness:

With all of the boards smoothed on three sides and milled to their final thickness, I used the table saw to rip everything to width and crosscut all of the various pieces.

With this many pieces, labeling is essential to avoid confusion later.

Surface Assembly

I assembled the tabletop, benchtop, and shelf first. All three are edge-joined using dowels and glue. I neglected to take photos of the doweling process (it was thrilling, let me tell you), but after that was finished, I clamped each of the three surfaces together and cut the ends flush. I had left each piece an inch or two longer than I needed during initial cutting as there is always some error in alignment when joining with dowels.

The benchtop and shelf were small enough that I was able to trim them on the table saw, but the tabletop required the use of my circular saw and guide track.

With all of the pieces cut to size, I rounded the corners of the outer boards of the tabletop and benchtop with my router table and a corner radius template. I built the template specifically for this project out of scrap plywood and aluminum angle iron. Here’s a video and a photo showing how it works in tandem with a flush trim router bit to “copy” an edge onto the workpiece:

You can buy templates like this for $40, or you can build one for about $2. Not a difficult choice.

With the corners rounded, I glued all three surfaces together and let them sit in clamps overnight:

The final step for each surface before assembly was a round of planing with a No. 4 smoothing plane and sanding with a random orbital. The tabletop and benchtop both also got a rounded edge courtesy of my trim router. Here’s a video showing bits of the whole process for the tabletop and a few photos of the finished surfaces:

Base Assembly

Assembling the bases took some finesse. The legs for both the table and bench angle out at 15 degrees, which took away the crutch of using clamps during assembly to keep pieces from wandering, but careful measurement, pilot holes, and some patience kept things from getting out of hand. Here are a few pics of the process:

The A-frames for the bench are held together with pocket hole screws. I plugged the holes that will be visible after assembly with dowels (left) and then sanded the surface flush (right).

With the A-frames complete, I attached the crosspieces, this time with the benefit of clamps to hold everything in place.

The A-frames for the table are a bit different. The crosspieces form part of the apron for the tabletop (top) and support the shelf (bottom), so they are attached with counterbored screws so they sit on either side of the legs rather than flush with them.

I attached the shelf next with screws up through the bottom of the support on the A-frames. You can also see the shop-made plugs in the various counterbores. After the glue dried, I cut them close to the surface and then sanded them flush.

The side trim for the shelf is raised slightly over the shelf surface to form a lip and prevent items from sliding off easily

I attached the side trim of the shelf with a similar lip…

…while attaching the long aprons for the tabletop.

Unfinished Table + Bench Gallery

Before starting to paint, I took a few minutes to grab some pictures of the set unfinished. The tops aren’t attached here to allow for easier painting, but this was the first real look I got of the pieces in an almost-finished form.

Painting

Painting was a three-stage process. First I covered the knots with two coats of a shellac-based primer so that they wouldn’t show through the top coat:

Then I went over everything again with a single coat of latex primer:

Finally, I finished up with multiple coats of Krylon Colormaxx latex enamel paint. The legs mostly took three coats while the flat surfaces took four. I started out using a brush but found that brush marks were an issue, presumably because the enamel aspect of the paint that gives it increased durability also makes it less forgiving than a regular latex paint, so I converted to a roller for the final coats. I don’t have pics of the painting process, but you can see the final results in the gallery below.

Final Results

I don’t know that I could be happier with this build. I’m not usually one for painting, but the results here are (if I may brag a bit) fairly spectacular. The white paint is pretty perfect.

Before our friends picked up their new table and bench, I set it up in our playroom and grabbed a few pics: