My goal this year was to have a desk for each of my kids. I really think it inspires creativity and encourages art activities if kids have their own special spot. So we built our preschool daughter a little art table using Ana-White kids table plans.
The only changes I made to the original table was adding 1x3 stretcher to the bottom of the legs for additional stability. We had to buy a 2x2 for this project but everything else was scraps. The top is all 1x3 and 1x4 scraps. Total cost for E's art table was $3 for the 2x2. I would guess that if you had to buy all the wood it would be $10-15 which is pretty great deal for an all wood table!
I painted the table with 2 coats of Dover White from Sherwin Williams.