Children always need somewhere to put their toys and this traditional box on wheels offers the perfect storage solution. Tidy up time is quick and easy as it is very convenient to wheel back under the bed at the end of the day. The wheels mounted underneath make the toy box mobile and our children are fond of pulling theirs to other parts of the house. Our son keeps his most precious Lego projects in his toy box, especially those that are still under construction so he can wheel them where he wants to continue working on them. Our daughter uses her toy box to store her favourite books, as well as to make a bed for dolls and teddies to sleep in. The next two toy boxes I make will be for our younger set of twins, who have more fun sitting inside them and being pulled down the passage!
Pocket hole joinery is a technique that produces a more advanced right-angle joint between two pieces of wood and requires a special jig and accessories. My family had given me a set of this equipment for my birthday and I used it to fasten the main corners on the toy box. The angled holes that feature in this process can be filled afterwards with pre-cut fillers while the unique wood screws are completely submerged within the two adjoining pieces of wood. The height of the boxes, including the wheels, could not exceed the lowest edge of the front of the children's beds, with additional clearance for fingers to allow the box to be rolled out. I determined the width by assuming two toy boxes would be used under one bed with sufficient clearance between them. A simple plywood base and four casters on each corner completed the very simple yet sturdy construction.
Helicopters, diggers, dolls and toy horses; Andrew and Amelia can easily push their favourite toys to wherever they are playing.
WHAT I WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME
The height of the toy box was designed to clear the base of the bed, allowing some space for fingers to hold the toy box and roll it out. This is not ideal, however, as there may also be a rug in front of the toy box or something else that obstructs it. If they pull the top edge of the toy box, they could bump their fingers against the bottom edge of the bed. To avoid this happening, either cut out a shallow curve on the top edge or fasten a suitable handle to the outside face. For cutting curves, see booster step on page 32.
| PART | QUANTITY | THICKNESS | WIDTH | LENGTH | |
| A | Long sides | 2 | 19mm | 150mm | 500mm |
| B | Short sides | 2 | 19mm | 150mm | 462mm |
| C | Base (plywood) | 1 | 6mm | 500mm | 500mm |
| D | Casters | 4 |
Project information
| Overall dimensions | 500mm long x 500mm wide x 215mm high |
| Number of parts | 9 |
| Special equipment | Pocket hole joinery jig and accessories, Dremel |
| Techniques | Pocket hole joinery (see page 21) |
| Difficulty | Easy |
| Duration | 3 hours |
Family fun factor
1 The toy box has three major components: the short and long sides (A x 2, B x 2), base (C) and wheels (D x 4). Have the wood cut to size or measure and cut it out with a jigsaw. The wheels are called casters and should be available from most hardware or building supply stores.
2 Use a steel ruler and pencil to measure the location of the pocket holes on the short sides (B x 2). Typically this will be 20% of the width from the edges, as shown in the photograph. Due to the nature of this joining technique these holes will ultimately not be visible on the finished product so the position does not have to be perfect.
3 Drill the holes in the short sides (B x 2) using the pocket hole joinery jig and the special drill bit and collar as shown. This technique creates angled holes in the wood with a pilot hole at the base to allow for the head of the special self-tapping screw to be completely hidden once fully tightened.
4Assemble and clamp each corner with a light-duty rightangle clamp at the top and bottom, holding the long and short sides in position. Fasten the joint by driving the selftapping screws into the angled holes in the short side (B) using an extra length insert bit mounted in a power drill. The pocket holes will guide the screw tip into each adjoining long side (A) to fasten the pocket hole joint. Repeat until all corners are completed in the same way and the clamps can be removed.
5 Attach the base (C) to the assembled sides by drilling pilot holes at equal spacing around the base (C). Manually fasten the base to the sides using wood screws and a screwdriver.
Tip: Use the following method for spacing, which does not require accurate measuring – fasten the four corners first, then measure the midpoints, then divide these halves again and fasten screws in each position on all edges.
Top and side view
6 Pocket hole joinery kits typically come with pre-cut fillers that go into the angled holes once the screws have been fastened to create the joint. Use these to plug the pocket holes with a spot of wood glue and fill any remaining gaps with wood filler, as needed.
A caster can swivel in any direction and can be mounted to the bottom of furniture and chairs.
7 Sand down to at least 100 grit, then apply wood primer and finish with two coats of paint in a colour of your choice – I was fortunate to have some help with the painting from my eldest son, James. Before painting the boxes we placed them on top of nails that I had temporarily hammered into the top of the work surface. As with the booster step (see page 27), this prevents the newspaper underneath from sticking to the drying paint.
8 After the paint has dried completely, fasten the casters (D x 4) to the underside of the four corners of the base (C).
Tip: Re-use the corner screws already holding the base (C), as shown in the photograph.
9 The inside wood screw opposite the corner will come through the base (C) on the inside of the toy box. Use a Dremel or similar tool to grind down the exposed tip of the screw so that there are no sharp points on the inside of the box.
Tip: The Dremel is a small, hand-held power tool that holds a highspeed rotating bit which can be used for grinding, sharpening, carving and engraving. It uses speed rather than power to do fine work such as removing points of screws that protrude above wood surfaces.
Andrew has more fun sitting inside the toy box, and the design is sturdy enough for children under two.
