Ikea Hack Lego Table |Keeping it Real

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Ikea Hack Lego Table

We are all huge Lego fans at our house (yes, even me; having kids is a great excuse to play with Legos again), but we've never had a Lego table. Lately, though, I decided we needed one, mostly because having Lego constructions spread out through the living room floor was starting to bother me. I wanted something simple and cheap, that can be easily discarded when the kids grow, but at the same that that did not clash with our other furniture. When I saw an old Ikea side table next to the trash cans at the end of our street early on a Saturday morning, I knew I had hit jackpot! It was the right size, and, most of all, it was the right price.

Ikea Hack Lego Table

Someone had discarded it, though, because it looked in pretty bad shape, but the damages were all superficial, just a lot of nicks and bruises and peeling paper cover.

Ikea Hack Lego Table

At first I thought about painting it, but those tables are actually made of cardboard, not wood, and I didn't know if the paint would hold. In the end, I used a dark brown self adhesive paper I already had at home (leftover from lining some shelves years ago) and covered the table legs and the sides. And then, because I had to join several pieces of adhesive paper, I added a pretty ribbon to hide the "seams". This is how it looked afterwards:

Ikea Hack Lego Table

You can see the top was a bit damaged too, but I wasn't worried about that, as I was going to cover it with the Lego base plates.

Ikea Hack Lego Table

Which was also a great opportunity to try out my brand new hot glue gun. I don't know how I lived for so long without one!

Ikea Hack Lego Table

Here's the end result: 

Ikea Hack Lego Table

I had to buy a few new base plates, because most of the ones we had were old and broken (they've been around ever since I was a kid, which just shows that Legos are durable toys), so you can see the difference in color from the new to the old plates, but the kids wanted to keep that road, and I wanted to cut expenses to a minimum. 

Ikea Hack Lego Table

Because the table was larger than the four big base plates we had and I needed the scarred tabletop covered entirely, I cut a few of the older plates to fill in the blank spaces (but making sure Lego pieces would fit in perfectly between the joined plates.  

Ikea Hack Lego Table

I hot glued all the pieces to the table top and let the kids have a got at it.

Ikea Hack Lego Table

No complaints so far. Total cost: just the three new base plates. Everything else was free or something we already had at home. Not bad for a Saturday morning's work!

Happy Tuesday!

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21 comments:

  1. Love it! And I bet your kids were thrilled, too.

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    1. Yes, they were. I don't know how we lived without it for so long too. No more Lego houses on the floor! Thank you for stopping by Christine, have a great week!

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  2. What a fun idea! Kids will absolutely love this! Thanks for the instructions.

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    1. It's really very easy! Those Ikea tables are not expensive, and if you buy a new one you just need to glue the base plates! Thank you for stopping by!

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  3. Oh this is such a neat idea!

    I would LOVE for you to share this with my Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pluckyrecipescraftstips/

    Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!

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  4. That's a great idea for your kids to play Lego!
    Thanks for sharing this at Cooking and Crafting with J&J.

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  5. This is exactly what I want to do with our train table that is currently train-less. Maybe it'll force the small Legos up versus all over the floor where I tend to step on one daily! Visiting from Pretty Pintastic Party.

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    1. Thank you for stopping by Victoria! Yes, over the past week I have found that this is the best way to keep those Legos off the floor!

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  6. you have several good idea's i would love to sew.... but i have no idea how many inches is a cm or what ever..
    and i been sewing for many many years......love the spring bag... but alas... do not know how to measure
    have a blessed day

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    1. well, if you google around it will be easy to find an online conversion page. Still, as a general rule of thumb, an inch is about 2.5 cm. If you want to make anything specific, let me know and I'll try to help you the best way I can. But trust me, google can be your best friend on this!

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  7. What a great idea. We had a lego table when my boys were little. Have to keep this in mind for future grandkids. Love the hack. Thanks for sharing at Let's Get Real Friday Link Party.

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  8. Sigh, I wish mine liked building on base plates. He likes making little "things" and scattering them all over the downstairs.

    But I love this idea, and the fact that it only cost a few base plates (which will get used) is awesome! Thanks for sharing on #FridayFrivolity.

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  9. What a great way to re purpose an old table...and I bet it makes the perfect play station!! Thanks for sharing on My 2 Favorite Things on Thursday!! Hope to see you again tomorrow!! Pinned!

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  10. Composing a blog is a touch of craftsmanship and the writer has definitely aced this inclination.toys r us lego tables made in usa

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