I Built a Coffee Table, AKA a Lego Habitat

LMS's previous LEGO habitat. they also took over the top of that cabinet and the piano bench

The Little Miss has made a habit of spreading her LEGOs across various surfaces in the library. It hasn't been a huge deal, but with the rapidly approaching arrival of a Little Mister, I decided to build something that would keep her LEGOs off the floor and safely away from curious little hands.

When I mentioned the idea to LMS, she called it a LEGO habitat :) Works for me- as long as the LEGOs stay in their native habitat and don't wander off....

I used the plans for Mom's Train Table, found at ana-white.com.  We don't necessarily need a train table (yet), though we do have a wood train set, but the size is good for our living room and will give LMS plenty of room for her LEGOs and other little toys that she likes to play with upstairs (instead of downstairs with the rest of the toys).

I really like using the plans on ana-white.com- the projects come together so quickly. After buying the wood, I was able to cut the pieces and put it together in about 4 hours, except for the top insert. It got too dark for me to keep going, so I had to finish the next day. But that was just a matter of sanding the edges so they fit in the space nicely, and then cutting the piece in half and drilling a finger hold in the middle.

bottom of the box that is the top portion of the table

legs on the box and lower shelf being secured in place

close-up view of the undersides

all finished, except for the lid

it's a good size table- almost 4 1/2 feet long and almost 3 1/2 feet wide

LMS couldn't wait for me to finish the lid, and immediately moved her LEGOs in

lid finished- fitted, sanded, cut, and drilled

ignore the tools and other pieces of wood in the background- I'm still working on other projects and won't get everything put away till I'm done

we put half the lid on so LMS has a surface to play on, and the box holds all the pieces

As with the other pieces of furniture I've built recently, I'm holding off finishing it for now. I did spend a bit more for the nicer pine boards (legs, trim, etc) and oak plywood (larger flat pieces), so if I'm feeling really ambitious, I could stain it and have it look nice.

We need to order a/some LEGO plate(s) (something like this), which I'll attach to the underside of one side of the top so it can be flipped and used for LEGO creations.

Once I finished the table, Mr M commented that it would be a great game table too- there's a perfect amount of space for Settler's of Catan or Level 11. Gotta love multi-purpose items. It's a coffee table, a LEGO habitat, a dolly refuge, a game table.... I'm happy with how it turned out!