Yarn Shelves for Craft Room Storage.

This is a really simple project to organise any craft room or playroom.

The whole structure is made from 6mm MDF and painted with normal water based paint (we used wall emulsion and a roller/brush).

I used the table saw for this but you can also use a hand saw/jigsaw with a bit of care.

So the size of this really isn't critical, and depends more on the size of your yarn stash!! I guess for some of you that could be huge, at least that is if my other half is anything to go by!

We measured the length of the largest ball of yarn to give the depth of the rack and hence the width of all the strips.

8 parts are needed in total, 4 of which need to be shorter than the other 4 by their width (6mm in this case).

The table saw was used to cut the parts to size, but most suppliers will cut materials to size for you if you ask (they won't do the slots though!)

Starting with the 4 shorter lengths. They need to be stacked together, clamped and cut together to ensure the slots all line up later.

Mark out the lengths into 3rd, allowing for their thickness and cut HALFWAY through.

Try and keep the cuts accurate, a little over is OK, but less than halfway and they won't go together properly.

Also , keep the slots to as close to it's thickness as you can, see next step.

Be as accurate with your marking and cutting as you can. Careful cutting means a better fit.

When you're happy with your cuts, take two bits and fit them together, all the slots you just cut should be identical, so flip one part over and slide into the other slot at right angles to each other.

If your cuts are good, you should have a nice snug fit; thats not too hard to push together and line up front to back.

Problems you might find:

• Joints are too tight - slots are too narrow for you material, widen them with some sand paper.
• Joints are too loose - slots are too wide. can you live with the gap that there is? you may need to start again, or glue the joints later, using some beading may help.to strengthen the join and hide the gaps.
• Front and back cant't line up - slots are too shallow, make them longer with sandpaper, handsaw or a chisel.
• Front and back line up, but slide past each other - depending on how far they pass each other this probably isn't a problem and will be sorted when we fix the sides on.

When you're happy with the test fit and made any slight adjustments, fit the four parts together in a grid to create the inside dividers for your storage.

You might need a helper as this can be fiddly, but not like wrestling an octopus!

Once you have the dividers fitted together, it's time to add the border, lay them on their side an grab two sides.

Line one side up so it hangs past the next one and hold it in place, no glue here!

Now apply some glue to the ends of the two dividers on side 2 ready for the outside part to fix to. butt the end of this outside part to the part on side one to line up where it needs to go and glue on side 2. hold it in place for now and glue on side 3 using side to to align its end and work all the way around until you are back to the start. Because these parts are longer than dividers by their own thickness they will wrap around the outside and meet at the corners nicely with out having to be trimmed afterwards.

Once you're happy with the fit, use a brad nailer to hold the sides to the dividers and at the corners until the glue dries.

While the glue is drying set the unit aside and cut some stiffness.

Because the unit has no back it will be fairly easy to wobble across its diagonal. These blocks stop this, and give you a good fixing point to hang it on the wall at the same time.

Once the glue has dried on the unit, glue the blocks into the corner of each square. again brandies will hold them in place while the glue goes off.

Another option is to put either a complete back on the unit, or use the offcuts form the lengths we cut at the start.

I ended up doing a mixture of the two. hence the different sized blocks in the photo.

I would highly recommend painting the boards flat before assembly, But that is advice drawn off the experience of painting it afterwards myself! Although it's really easy to paint after its all together, it would probably be 10 times faster doing it before! I hate painting so I'm all for the quick option here! That said if your joints are cut quite tight, the paint may cause it to stick, and rub. Also be sure to NOT paint only 1 side of the outer case, as the glue may not stuck well to the paint. paint this after the glue is dry.

Which ever order you paint in, once it's all dried its time to fix to the wall.

Use stable fixings for your wall type, what ever they may be, these walls are brick so plugs and screws were used. The whole thing isn't overly heavy, but you'll still want to find any wooden studs if your walls are that type of construction.

Once up, stand back proudly at your achievements, pat yourself on the back, have a nice glass of wine and go find your next #knitworthy project! :-)