Solid Trestle Craft Table

We had seen ideas for making trestle tables, and we wanted something that would perfectly fit a nook area for sewing, craft etc.

I wanted to make it for as little money as possible, so we found an old heavy commercial work surface someone had on trademe for about $20 and cut it to suit for the top (where was almost enough to make two). I edged the table top with trim (which also helped to align the trestles and stop the top from sliding off) and it was painted and sanded back with a 2 layer chalk type paint for that retro look.

To make the trestle legs, I used 8 cheap 1.8m tall gothic style fence pickets – they were perfect with a pointy end for carpet grip, and they would cut exactly to size for the cross pieces. They were screwed and glued together with hinges at the top.

I made shelving pieces out of pine and put some some holes in the lower cross pieces for some rope which was fed out and back leaving a small loop. The loop end of the rope held some little wedges, and the rope was twisted around and around to give tension with the wedge in place under the shelf that locked it from spinning back.

No photos of the construction sorry, but this is the result.