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Huge Lego collections are awesome but are almost guaranteed to be a headache to organize, store and keep out from underfoot. So making a DIY Lego table that doesn’t require carpentry or construction skills sounds like a great idea for any family that loves this iconic toy.
Blogger Amanda Peterson, of Our Wee Family, shared an idea for a DIY Lego table made up of storage carts topped with a long Lego board all the way back in 2012. While it’s been a decade since the post, great ideas never go out of style and Peterson’s idea recently resurfaced via a viral Facebook post from blogger Jill, of Kitchen Fun with My Three Sons.
Frankly, we are loving this project.
In the original post, Peterson wrote that she saw the idea for a DIY Lego table on a now-defunct Disney Family Fun magazine webpage. Three plastic storage towers are used to hold bricks and also serve as the base for a large board covered with Lego baseplates. The middle storage tower can roll out when you’re ready to sit at the table and low stools make up the seating.
Peterson also printed out and stuck images of the different Lego blocks that belonged in each storage drawer so her kids would have an easy guide for putting pieces away and keeping them organized. She said that the tabletop can flip to its non-Lego side to be used as a flat desk. Four years after she first posted about the table, Peterson reported in the comment section that hers was still in regular use at home.
“Surprisingly, a table built from plastic drawers and a shelf has held up incredibly well,” she wrote. “My kids play with it every day and we’ve moved it all around the house – upstairs, downstairs, bedrooms, etc. They still flip the top over to use it as a desk.”
If you’re looking to recreate this seemingly simple DIY Lego table, here’s where you can find the components on Amazon.
The Storage Drawers
You can get a two-pack of Sterilite three-drawer storage towers, like those shown in the original design, for $78 on Amazon right now. Having the storage carts on wheels makes this project easy to move around when you need to vacuum under it or find a mini-figure that inevitably slides underneath. Reviewers on Amazon have remarked how sturdy these storage carts are and how mobile they are, giving them an overall score of 4.5 stars out of 5.
If you don’t love that idea, another option for the base of your DIY Lego table would be using two of these Sterilite wide storage towers ($62.99 each), so that the drawers open sideways. This would create a larger width to hold an even bigger building surface as the tabletop.
If you don’t want transparent drawers, you could also use a wooden drawer cart like, this one listed on Amazon from Winsome Halifax, which is on sale for $77 as of this writing. It has more than 14,000 reviews and a rating of 4.3 stars. It also comes with the Amazon’s Choice seal.
The Tabletop
You’ll want to pick your tabletop size based on the width of the storage towers you get. Peterson wrote that she found her table’s wooden topper at Menard’s where it was being sold as a white laminated shelf.
On Amazon, you can find something similar from Kaboon. The brand has multiple sizes of laminated plywood in five different colors that you can use for your tabletop. The sea salt gray, 24-by-64-inch version costs $130 right now, before a coupon is applied. Your local hardware store will be able to custom-cut plywood and other wood to your specifications, too.
Some commenters on the original Our Wee Family blog post and Kitchen Fun with My Three Sons reshare asked how you keep the tabletop from moving around on the towers while it’s in use. One solution given was to use a nonslip shelf liner to prevent wobbling.
A white Gorilla Grip drawer and shelf liner costs $15.99 for a 10-foot roll. And there are many fans of this product on Amazon. This particular one has more than 25,000 reviews and a score of 4.6 stars. Just measure and cut it to the size of your tabletop.
The Lego-Connector Surface
In order to make this a practical Lego-building surface, you’ll need to add Lego baseplates (or potentially a knock-off version).
A genuine Lego 48-by-48-inch gray baseplate lists at $15 on Amazon. Reviewers have loved the large size of these baseplates so they can cover more surface area with fewer plates. The original post reported using Glue Dots adhesives to attach the baseplates to the wooden tabletop. A value pack of 600 Glue Dots is about $12 on Amazon and they can be used for many other projects around your house.
You can also find unbranded baseplates with a sticky backing that are compatible with Lego pieces. For instance, MakerBase’s Peel-and-Stick Building Blocks Baseplates are 10-by-10 inches each. A four-pack costs $30, and the brand gets 4.7 stars out of 5 from thousands of Amazon reviewers.
The Seating
On Our Wee Family, Peterson wrote that she used Ikea stools with her DIY Lego table.
If you’d like to do the same, you can find the Marius stool online at Ikea for $9 each, but you’ll also find them on Amazon. On the latter site, a single white stool lists for $19.50. Peterson said her Ikea Marius stools lasted about 3 1/2 years, with constant use from her kids, before breaking.
You can find similar plastic stools from Pearington, pictured below, selling on Amazon, where a rainbow-hued set of five seats cost $100, or $20 each. Norwood Commercial Furniture has a slightly more heavy-duty set of five stools in black for about $25 each.
If you like the thought of putting together your own DIY Lego table, set up your Amazon cart and get to building!
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