Don’t get excited – I’m not about to show you anything impressive. I am decidedly un-crafty and not a hands-on kind of person so I’m pleased that I actually made something.
Pictured above is what I started with. Four wooden boxes found for free. When Peter and I spotted them I was sure I could do something with them. At the time, Peter was re-doing our deck and didn’t want to take on anything that involved sanding or painting (fair enough) but I was sure I could figure it out.
My first step was to sand the boxes. I used a sander! A power tool!
I bought wood glue at the hardware store and glued the boxes together. I used my heaviest books to weigh them down.
Then I painted. Above is after one coat of paint. I did two but this was the longest DIY project ever so there was about a month where it sat half-painted in our carport. We had some leftover paint from when we painted our kitchen after we renovated last summer so I just used that. It’s a very, very light green.
And the finished project! This corner of our living room (where our Christmas tree was a month ago) is now Pearl’s little play corner. I don’t love having all her toys in our living room but we have a small house and this lets her room be a quiet, sleeping place with just her books and stuffed animals. We have one other basket full of Duplo and a wooden box for her trains. And now I’m wondering if Pearl’s toy stash is excessive…At least this keeps them contained and easy to put away and Pearl seemed happy with the finished product.
If anyone needs any woodworking tips, let me know!
Karissa Reads Books 
Cute project!
I wouldn’t say your amount of toys is excessive at all, but I totally get you. We also don’t have a huge amount of toys, compared to the average probably, but I was looking at the shelf the other day and dreaming of another purging session. 🙂
We’ve actually been storing the majority of them in the utility room for about a year. I got sick of Calvin just throwing everything around, so I stuffed them in there and said he could have two toys out at once. It’s been amazing. They play so much better and it’s way easier to clean up.
I’d love to use Pearl’s bedroom closet to keep her toys in but right now it’s half general storage/half her clothes (plus stuff that doesn’t fit her). Partially I think it feels like she has a lot of toys right now because her collection grew after Christmas and suddenly family is asking what she wants for her birthday and I’m thinking, “No toys, please!”
Woohoo! Looks great! Next job – giant bookcases… though you might have to build an extra room onto the back of the house to make room for them…
I actually have a gorgeous bookshelf that Peter made for me a few years ago! I dream of having a dedicated library in my house (lots of old books, maybe a spiral staircase, a comfy window seat) but it may remain a fantasy until we win the lottery or something!