# Cutting down counter height table and chairs



## LaurenC (Dec 30, 2009)

I'm buying this table

http://www.easylifefurniture.com/diningroom_Detail.asp?pSKU=2920

Which I like a lot, but my ceilings are low and the height might make my ceilings look even lower. If I decide in the future that I would rather have standard table height, what would cutting down the table legs and chairs entail? Hiring a carpenter? How much $? Or is it not worth the effort?

Thanks!

Lauren


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## knapke411 (Sep 12, 2009)

Well if you are at all handy, it is pretty easy to do. I just did this for a customer who got some stools passed down from his parents. He wanted them to fit in a cubby under his granite counter but they were bar height stools.

Here is what I did:
- I made a very small box the amount he wanted cut off (5" in this case) - 1/4
- I taped around the legs using green masking tape, makes it easy to mark and helps prevent splintering when cutting
- used a small 1/4" piece of plywood to ride on top of the box to mark around the legs
- Oh, the stools where standing up on my dead flat work bench, so I was marking up from the bottom if it was not obvious.
- What you cut with depends on what toys/tools you have. I was going to use a find hand saw but the legs were very hard so I gave up on that quickly. I put a fine metal cutting blade (to prevent tear out/splintering) into my sawzall after having clamped the stool upside down. Probably the best tool would have been a Fein Multitool but I was not going to shell out the cash for that.
- It took patience to get a straight cut, you are likely to get a little tear out unless you are REALLY careful so cut from the show outside corner to the hidden outside corner.
- I did a little tuning up with 100 grit sanding block and 'touched up' with a furniture marker.

From their perspective, it looks like the stools were intended to be that size from the outset.


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## LaurenC (Dec 30, 2009)

Thanks! So it sounds like it's not too hard. It also sounds like I'm not crazy for buying a table and chairs that I might cut down. Be on the look-out for a forum post in the future asking how I can find someone to do this for me in West Los Angeles. Thanks!


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## home4allseasons (Feb 3, 2013)

I actually just did this the other evening and posted the method I used here with pics of how I set up my clamps and saw guides. http://homemaker4allseasons.blogspot.com/2013/02/shorten-counter-top-height-table-with.html

All in all, the project turned out great and I am very happy that I was able to keep my table and now it is a little bit safer for my small children. My table legs were tapered and I don't have the tools to measure the angles I would need to set the bevel and angle on the miter box. I was planning on using that originally but ended up using the good ol' hand saw and some C-clamps and it worked out wonderfully. I was also even able to salvege the little plastic buttons off the ends of the original legs and hammer them back into the new ends of my table legs.


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## runswithscissors (Nov 8, 2012)

I took a stool sample in to my doctor. Imagine how surprised we each were when we realized what the other was talking about.


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## home4allseasons (Feb 3, 2013)

I posted my tutorial of how I cut down my own counter height table on my blog. The above link is outdated and you can find the tutorial here at garden full of dreams


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## AlaskaGuy (Jan 29, 2012)

> I m buying this table
> 
> http://www.easylifefurniture.com/diningroom_Detail.asp?pSKU=2920
> 
> ...


You link doesn't work


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