Drumroll please… The child size work table, my first true woodworking furniture project, is complete! I had intended the red oak end table to be my first project.  However, I realized my son, who just entered first grade and is mildly autistic, (and therefore can be challenged at times with focusing on task – or sometimes over focused!), would benefit from a dedicated table where he could do his work. He also is very proficient at the computer, and with all the apps he wants to play around with, we also thought it would be better for him to have his own system. That would keep all that stuff off of mine or my wife’s system. My son now has her old system when we recently got an upgraded one for her.

I think my son really got a kick out of this project too, besides receiving the end product. He was with me when we bought the wood, he picked out the stain color, and helped me brush on some of the last coat. The wood we used was poplar (figuring it’s not too expensive and therefore not terrible when it ultimately gets beat up some). I also used pocket hole joinery to join the aprons to the legs – reasoning being that I can replace the legs with full length ones as he grows older – should the table survive that long.

Here’s another view of the table as the last coat was drying.