Lucas' Train Table
My wife, "Honey, you have to build a table for Lucas to play with trains on. He's driving me crazy!"
Me, "OK, as soon as I finish your jewelry cabinet."
My wife, "I can't wait for 2019 . . . Lucas will be eight by then and won't need it anymore."
Me, "Oh, all right. How about something like my outfeed table downstairs?"
My wife, "I don't care. It just needs to be short, so Lucas can reach a train on it."
So I took my table saw outfeed table design and shortened the legs, then designed the top so it would use the largest piece of plywood I had on hand for the table top. The rest of it was built out of Baltic birch plywood I had around.
it's about 15" tall, almost 4 feet long, and about 30" wide. These were mostly determined by how long my 2 year old son's legs and arms were as of February 2013. Such design considerations have a tendency to clarify one's thinking. That and the need to have no 'sticky-out-bits' for him to trip over or cut himself upon. The paint is that same light green latex I bought for my shop tool cabinet that was intended to look like milk paint. It does, but I think it's going to be more durable for all of the scuffing and marking that Lucas will subject the surface to.
My wife saw it, paused for a moment, and said, "If we put a glass top on it, it'd make a great coffee table."
I said, "NO! This is the train table you asked for. There it is."
Lucas loves it.