Stabilizing a table

[DaveO]

My wife may have inspired me for a furniture project :eusa_danc But I have one problem :eusa_thin What she suggested I make is a sofa table. It's a table that goes behind a sofa and is generally narrow and tall. I am thinking Mission style as I have some QSWO. I have a carpeted living room that is well padded and I am concerned that a table like that won't be stable enough to be safe for a 2 yr. old. I made some end tables for the room and ended up having to screw the bases to the floor. Are there any good techniques that I could use to make the table legs more stable, other than shear weight of the piece?
Dave

 

[D L Ames]

Dave, how about having the legs spread outward? Definitely doesn't fit into the "mission style" but that might help.

D L

 

[walnutjerry]

Dave, You could always take a plug cutter and cut a hole through the carpet and pad for the legs to sit on the underlayment:lol: . But then the wife may not let you stay around to see the kids grow up.:-(

Jerry

 

[Steve D]

Dave,

You might be able to use 2 small eye hooks and caefully screw them through the fabric into the structure of the sofa and run a couple of anchor wires to figure 8's on the bottom of the table. They can be removed when the kids are older and depending on the weave of the fabric you will never see where the eye hooks were attached.

 

[Canuck]

Dave,

One more idea. How about a slot in the bottom of each leg. Insert one end of a metal "L-bracket" (a small 1.5" one) and then screw the other end down through the carpet into the floor. Then when they grow up a bit, just remove the metal bracket from the bottom of each leg. This way the fastener will mot be visible in the bottom of each leg and you would not have hurt the carpeting. (Maybe a couple of drops of epoxy on the end of the bracket that you had inserted into the slot in the bottom of each leg.)

Just a thought.....

Wayne

 

[Travis Porter]

You could use a flat piece of metal screwed to the bottom that comes out from under the bottom of the foot.

Only thought of it because of Wayne's post.

 

[Canuck]

Travis...that would be even easier!!!

Wayne

 

[DavidF]

Electric Fence:lol:

 

[michaelgarner]

:rolf: ,,electric fence,,,,your killing me,,,,I wonder if child services would come if I put one in my house,,,lol Just kidding just kidding. be blessed

 

[NCPete]

invisible fence, and the shock-collars work well, in my experience

 

[michaelgarner]

ohh man that is too funny,,,be blessed

 

[Travis Porter]

I have suggested that to the LOML for our daughter and to get one of those dog harnesses that you see people put on their kids and was quickly told I would not be doing that to HER CHILD.

 

[woodguy1975]

My wife may have inspired me for a furniture project :eusa_danc But I have one problem :eusa_thin What she suggested I make is a sofa table. It's a table that goes behind a sofa and is generally narrow and tall. I am thinking Mission style as I have some QSWO. I have a carpeted living room that is well padded and I am concerned that a table like that won't be stable enough to be safe for a 2 yr. old. I made some end tables for the room and ended up having to screw the bases to the floor. Are there any good techniques that I could use to make the table legs more stable, other than shear weight of the piece?
Dave

Dave if you wander your design more towards a japanese feel where the legs are actually larger on the bottom than on the top to shift the CG of the table down. You can then add a bottom shelf support system that has a compartment that you could fill with sand to weight it down more. It probably would be fine. The other design would be to splay the legs and bring the legs down to a fairly small size at the bottom so they apply enough pressure to compress the padding to have the table sit more secure. Splaying the legs will do the most work in stabilizing the table in that design.

Good Luck,

John

 

[Dutchman]

Dave,
John has the right idea. You need a shelf near the bottom that will add some weight to help stabilize. I would not reccomend adding sand or anything. You might choose some accesories that have some weight. Also, you might want to have less overhang in the front and back to get the footprint of you legs as wide as possible. Also, don't overdue it on the height.

Buddy

 

[DavidF]

The only problem I see is that the weight would have to be significant to bring the C of G down sufficiently to make a difference. Even if you made the weight the same as the top structure you would put the C of G only half way between the top and the shelf; still too high I think for what you need. Also a sofa table is a pretty classic design; tall, narrow front to back with tapered legs. You would in grave danger of really compromizing the look if you went too far. My vote would be floor anchors of some sort.

 

[mshel]

Just to expand on an idea already submitted, you could inset a figure 8 into the bottom of the two back legs and run screws into the underlayment. That would keep the back legs anchored so it wouldn't tip. Later as the child grows, you could remove the figure 8's and no one would be the wiser. Is your child a climber or are you just being cautious? Not a bad thing and I'm sure I would be thinking about things like that if I had a little one crawling , climbing or otherwise being a child. Hope you come up with a solution.

MIke

 

[D L Ames]

Dave, just crawl under the house, bore some 1/2" dia holes up through the floor and drive a few of these babies up into the table legs.

Your sofa table can then double as a jungle gym for your daughter and it will be guaranteed not to tip over.:lol:

D L

 

[DaveO]

I was trying to get away from the semi-permant attachment to the floor. I had to do that with this table I made, you can see the countersunk screws.

I like to flip the couch over backwards to clean out all the various 2 yr. old deposited stuff, not to mention occasionally getting the dead animals out that my (the wife's) cats bring in. I wonder that if the tips of the legs are made very small and I make the table heavy, won't that small foot print apply enough weight to the carpet and padding to sit firmly on the sub-floor. I may have to make it and find out, and if it doesn't work I have my first sale piece.
BTW, my little girl is fearless and will climb on anything , but she isn't the problem, it's my wife who is very fearful. IMO my daughter will only knock the table over on herself once...she's pretty smart.
Dave

 

[McRabbet]

Another thought --- since a sofa table usually goes right behind a sofa, why not devise an attachment near the top of the side closest to the sofa to connect it to the sofa itself. You might be able to put some screw eyes inside the upper apron and use a stout cord to some form of ties on the back of the sofa -- removable for critter hunting...

My .02 -- Rob

 

[NCPete]

Why are the children always the mother's children when we suggest something like that?????