Modern Woodshop

For Christmas this year, my wife and I decided to buy our two daughters (ages 2 and 5) a dollhouse.  This decision immediately presented a problem.  Where could we set up the dollhouse such that it would always be ready for use and be accessible from all four sides?  The answer was a small dedicated table.  A quick search of the internet for dollhouse tables yielded a long list of expensive alternatives ($150 – $200!), all of which were poorly made.

This is the type of situation that all woodworkers live for:  a great excuse to build something.  I was given free reign on the overall design, but I had to meet four requirements:

1. The dimensions should be 24” x 24” x 24”
2. There must be a drawer for storing loose items
3. The project must be completed before Christmas
4. It must be cheap, cheap cheap!!!

I had no problem meeting the supplied criteria.  Construction took 4.5 days of  shop time from start to finish and another couple of days to apply the finish.  I used a half-sheet of cheap 3/4” birch plywood from Lowe’s, some scrap maple and birch hardwood from my lumber rack, a scrap piece of 1/2” plywood, a set of drawer slides, and a drawer handle.  In total, the materials for this project cost me approximately $30.

This was a fun project because I did no up-front design work.  I just started cutting wood and made things up as I went along.  I suspect that both the dollhouse and the table will end up in my living room (like all the other toys in the house), so I put a lot of energy into building a piece that is both functional and reasonably attractive.

I started with the legs.  I wanted a substantial seamless look to the legs, so I decided to miter two pieces of plywood together at each corner of the table.  The resulting leg looked far too blocky, however, so I tapered the width of the legs down to the floor.  Each leg is 3” wide at the top, and tapers down to 1.5” wide at the floor.  The taper begins 6” down from the top of the table.

Constructing the legs took longer than I expected… a little over a full day in the shop.  Each leg consists of two 3” x 23” plywood blanks.  I mitered one edge of each blank on the table saw and tapered the opposite edges on the bandsaw.  Gluing up the legs was a bit of an adventure.  Creating a 23” long gap-free miter joint with cheap wavy plywood required a lot of tweaking by hand.  I reinforced the miter joints with biscuits and clamped them together using blue painter’s tape.  I was a bit concerned about the strength of the miter joint, so I also added an 18” long triangular glue block made from scrap maple hardwood to the back of each leg.  This was probably overkill, but it’s better to be safe than sorry, I guess.

I purposely left the plywood edges exposed on the legs.  I’ve found that edgebanding often ends up looking like, well, edgebanding.  Instead of trying to hide the edges, I decided showcase them.  I think the exposed plys can add an interesting detail in certain pieces.  Clearly, your mileage may vary depending on what you’re building.

The table aprons are 6” wide and rabbeted on the bottom to accept a piece of 1/2” plywood that encloses the carcase.  To accommodate the drawer, I had to cut a rectangular hole in the front stretcher.  I laid out the opening in pencil and cut it out to rough dimensions using a jigsaw.  I then used a pattern routing bit in my router and a straightedge to clean up the cuts.

The drawer box itself is made from solid maple.  Since this table will probably be subjected to some rough treatment, I dovetailed the box for strength.  The drawer face is a piece of birch hardwood.  I used a simple round-over bit to create a profile around the edge.

Since kids have a tendency to knock things onto the floor, I thought it was important to put a small lip around the table top.  I ripped some 1” wide strips of birch and joined them into a frame.  I admit that I used through dovetails to join the frame together just to give the tabletop a little bit of flair.  Once the frame was glued-up, I cut a rabbet to accept a piece of 3/4” plywood.  The end result is a tabletop with frame that stands 1/4” proud of the surface.

The final step was to apply a finish.  For this project, I used a simple wipe-on varnish.  It’s simple, easy to apply, and provides good protection for the piece.

HO HO HO