We wanted to create a table for our nearly 3 year old daughter so she could play with her dollhouse but also double as a desk or craft table. We figured the area where we would put the dollhouse would be a spot that she would stand up and play, and then wanted an area for a chair so she could sit and color. We found that most of the tables were not long enough for both and also were too high for her. It was difficult to find something that was about 4-6 inches or so shorter than an average desk or table.
The solution we came up with was made using the following items:
- KALLAX Shelving Unit – White
- (4) CAPITA legs
- (2) LINNMON Table Top – White
- Wooden dowel and leg bracket
We put the KALLAX shelving unit on its side and installed the 4 legs on the bottom of the unit. We then placed the two LINNMON table tops flush to the front of the shelving unit and screwed them in. We wanted the table top to be flush to the front of the shelving unit so the storage area could easily be accessed by our daughter and it was going to be used as a standing area anyway. We tried both options before screwing it in to make sure, and having the unit forward looked much better as well. The 2nd table top hangs over the end of the shelving unit and provides a perfect amount of space to fit a MAMMUT chair for her to sit and and color or play.
Since the shelving unit is open in the back and is pulled out from the wall, we nailed a piece of trim on the back of the unit so books and other items wouldn’t get pushed pushed all the way through. Seen below.
We couldn’t find a leg that would fit this shorter table height (about 23 inches) so we created one out of a dowel by doing the following:
- Cut the dowel to the proper size
- Painted it white
- Inserted a hanger bolt in the top end of the dowel, the hanger bolt we found was one that fit the table leg bracket we found
- Installed the table leg bracket underneath the corner of the table top
- Screwed in the leg
The unit was still somewhat unstable since it wasn’t supported along the back of the table top and it also could be pulled back on top of her if she pulled on it since it wasn’t secured to the wall. To fix this, we screwed in a small board along the entire unit just under the table top. This provided much more support than another leg in the back corner and supported it along the entire thing. Additionally, we used a shelving bracket to help secure the entire unit so it couldn’t be pulled over. We got one that was big enough to screw into the wood support and then also screw into the end of the KALLAX unit. This can be seen in the two pictures above.
The final result was very stable and exactly what we are looking for and our daughter loves it.
- KALLAX Toddler Desk - April 16, 2015