Drop down table

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I think this is the final project for the craft room makeover. At least it’s the last major project needed to make it a functional room. But now it will work perfectly for a sewing/craft room and convert easily into a guest bedroom.

This drop down table is really the most important part! Now my wife can actually work in the craft room. In retrospect, I probably should have made this first.

I’m very proud of this design. It took me several months to come up with a design that was easy to use, sturdy, easy to build, inexpensive, and looked great when folded up to the wall.

I struggled over many, many ideas and Sketchup plans. They were all overly complicated and none has an elegant solution to concealing the legs. The solution finally came to me when I saw a dart board with two doors hiding the game board. Perfect!

Another consideration was that I wanted to minimize how far the cabinet sticks out from the wall. With the doors closed, it protrudes only 4.5″ (11cm). This is important, because when the Murphy Bed is folded down, guests need to be able to walk on that side of the bed without hitting their shoulders on the drop down table cabinet!

Special materials I used for this project:

I started by making the table top. It’s just a framework of boards joined together with pocket screws.

In order to keep the table as lightweight as possible, I used 1/4″ (6mm) plywood for the top. I glued and tacked it to the frame.

I wrapped the perimeter with 1.5″ (38mm) furring strips (inexpensive construction grade pine boards). These make the top look more substantial and cover up the plywood edges, but most importantly, the make the top much stiffer and sturdier.

This continuous hinge (piano hinge) on the underside of the table will connect to the legs.

I made the legs out of 2x4s. They are glued and screwed together.

And attached to the hinge.

After a lot of struggling, I managed to get a pair of these locking table leg braces installed. They are very difficult to use. If you have a better solution let me know!

The cabinet is simple. Just a basic frame with three cross pieces to give it lateral support.

I dropped the table top into the cabinet and installed another hinge.

I made the doors basically the same way as the table top. Frame with plywood glued to it.

The doors are attached with two hinges each.

I drilled shallow holes and epoxied rare earth magnets into the doors and cabinet frame. The will act as latches to keep the doors closed.

Disassembling the top, doors, and legs makes painting much easier. I used a cool stencil for the designs on the doors. My wife really likes this ornate Victorian look in the craft room.

Attaching the lightweight cabinet frame to the wall is a lot easier than trying to hang the whole unit at once.

Awesome door pulls!

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