folding round plywood table top
Tara Mann

Years ago a friend devised an interesting table top to use for big dinner parties. She had two half-circles cut from two 4’x 8′ sheets of plywood. Then she hinged them together at the straight sides with a piano hinge. It opened up like a book to become an round 8-foot-diameter table top which she placed, hinge-side-down, on her smaller round table (the base). She covered the rig with a pale yellow linen cloth and set it with her best china and silver. Her guests never knew what lay beneath the beautiful setting. To store the top, she folded it in half and slid it under the sofa where it stayed, out of sight, until the next party.

Our rough map of how to make it is below. You can make any size top you wish using this method. We recommend the biggest size that you can a) balance safely on whatever base(s) you have, and b) are able to store easily (figure the length, width and height when folded). Or use the essential idea to make a hinged rectangle that would fold to hide under a bed or behind a door, similar to the one we wrote about a few weeks ago. Folding sawhorses make a good base (we keep a pair in the closet). Check out our d-i-y on making a huge rectangular table out of plywood.

1) cut two half-circles from two 4’x’8′ sheets of plywood:

b) attach a long piano hinge to the straight side of each half-circle:

Just Kid’s Furniture

c) fold the top in half for storage (in real life, the hinge will be on the inside):

Related posts:
copy this: hinged, folding/expanding table top
sawhorse tables as solution + sculpture

d-i-y expandable table pt.2 (rectangle) for holiday and other celebrations

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2 replies on “d-i-y expandable table pt.1 (round) for holiday and other celebrations

  1. I absolutely love this solution. Thank you for this easy to follow post. I do have one question, how many people can you seat at this table?

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