EASY STORAGE BOXES

I made these crate style storage boxes for our sons nursery room. My wife was not happy with the cheap ones we had so I made these instead and she painted them the same colours to match the rest of the room.

They are real easy to make and look great. A nice easy DIY craft project.

I used the following tool and materials ;

Tools

Mitre Saw - Hand saw could be used instead

Jigsaw

Ruler

Brad Nailer (I purchased a hand operated staple gun that also shot 10mm brad nails) Was $22 at my local hardware store.

Large square

Materials

Sides = Soft wood strips - 1.5" x 5/16" in lengths that you local store has.

Supports = Soft wood corner strips

Bottoms = Plywood Sheet - Min 24" x 24" @ 5/16" thick

Brad nails

Wood Glue

Paint & Brushes

Once I had all my materials, I started by measuring the size of the space I had to fit the boxes into. It turned out to be a little over 12" tall, 12" wide and just over 13" deep. So I designed the boxes to be just a little smaller than that.

> Firstly I cut the strips of soft wood into 12" and 13" lengths making sure I had enough for the front and the side of both boxes

> I then cut the 8x 12" pieces of angle for each corner to add as the support. One for each corner of each box.

> Cut 4x 4" angle pieces to secure the base in

> Cut the square base

As you can see from the pictures. Assembling each side is relatively straight forward.

> You take two of the corner supports and place them down on a flat surface.

> Place 2 sets of cross strips at the top and bottom as shown.

> Now place 3 final pieces, spaced evenly in between.

> Apply standard wood glue to each end and firmly place back down. When they are all glued, use your brad nailer/stapler to fix each one into place. This is not strictly needed but will make for a better stronger box.

When the glue had set, I simply put the four sides together and applied glue to the joints at each edge then allowed each box to dry overnight.

The bottom is just a rectangle cut from plywood sheets. I simply turned the box upside down, applied glue to the plywood and place it level on the box. I then used my brad nailer to fix the bottom in place. You then turn the box the right way and fix the short angle strips in place with more glue. This will add support.

The final step is to paint. My wife did this part. She used custom paint colours from our local DIY store and cheap brushes. She painted everything except the underneath as I didn't want the paint rubbing off on the glossy shelves. After the paint had dried over night, I added a later of clear spray sealer. This stops the paint from rubbing off or scratching.