How to Build a Dollhouse Trestle Table and Benches

A trestle table is a timeless piece of furniture. It looks correct in a Medieval castle setting, an American colonial house or a contemporary dollhouse.

A trestle table was one of the first pieces of furniture I made for my dollhouse. I had little access
to dollhouse shops back in the 1980's BI [Before Internet] , hence I made a lot of my own furniture. I didn't think I could make decent chairs so a trestle table with benches was a good alternative.

A trestle table is much more simple to construct than a table with four legs.

The first thing we have to do is cut out all of the pieces.
To shape the curves of the legs and stretcher, I cut first with a pointed blade around the shape, I do most of the shaping with sandpaper. Balsa wood is soft so it is easy to sand. Use a fine grit sandpaper, wrap the sandpaper around a pencil or something round when sanding the curved shape.

You can go by my leg or stretcher patterns or you can make your own.

The feet have to be shaped from a piece of balsa which is 1/4 inch thick. It needs to be carved sanded and shaped, similar to my diagram [right], only round off the edges rather than leaving them so angular. I didn't know how to draw that in Photoshop, but I am sure you get the idea.

Cut out the table top to the correct size 6'' x 2.5'' using a mitre box and hand saw .

Sand top of the table and round off the sharp edges of the table with a sandpaper.

If you want the table to be stained now is the time to do it.

Stain won't penetrate glue so all of the pieces have to be stained before we start glueing the table together.

If you are painting the table, paint it after it is assembled and glued.

To stain the table parts, apply the stain with a rag or brush and then wipe off the excess with a lint free rag.

The stain will need a while to dry, I recommend overnight.

Stain is flammable and so are the rags you use to apply the stain. Maybe I am over cautious, but, when I am done, I put them in a plastic bag , tie the bag , and but it outside in the garbage.

Now the fun part begins.

Assembling the trestle table

Glue the table leg to the edge of the
crosspiece, [ not on top of the crosspiece ]. It is difficult to see in the photograph

It needs to dry at a perfect 90 degree angle so prop it up against
something square, like the mitre box I used here.

Wait until the glue is dry before you move on to the next step.

Next , glue on the stretcher about halway down the legs. I sat it on this little box to keep it straight.

I couldn't find a good way of holding the legs and the stretcher together while the glue dried. Mine wanted to spring apart a lttle bit, so I held it for about the first 10 minutes, which was long enough for the glue to begin fastening. Then left it for few hours to dry thoroughly.

All we have to do now is attach the feet.

Just glue them on and let the glue dry.

After the glue has dried overnight, you can spray or brush a varnish on the trestle table. I go for a satin finish rather than a high gloss, but that is just a personal preference.

That's it. pretty simple huh? Scroll down to see plans for making matching benches

Glue the little cross pieces onto the bench seat, about 1 inch from the ends.

Links to Dollhouse Tutorials
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How to make dollhouse
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How to make a stained glass window from stickers and markers

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