Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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How To Make A Wood Cubby For A Kids Room

More years than not we are working right down to the wire on Clara’s homemade Christmas gift (as in, things are drying in the garage on Christmas Eve)  – and this year was no exception! But the fun part about sharing them the week after we give them to her is that we get to include cute photos of her enjoying them… which is definitely our favorite part to witness. Introducing Clara’s new figurine cubby:

Cubby Side

Girl loves it.

Clara Loves It1

After racking our brain about what we could make her this year (a tool workshop? a fruit stand? a cardboard playhouse?) we decided that Clara still gets a lot of use from the larger things that we’ve already made her (like her play kitchen, her refrigerator, her dollhouse, and her train board – all of which are still out around the house). So we didn’t want to build another large floor-space-using thing since we don’t really have an obvious place to put it.

Cubby Previous Gifts

But there was a definite interest of hers that we knew we could address vertically (aka: on the wall). The girl loves little figures. Whether they’re small animals, tiny winged fairies, lego people, or even random items like ninja turtles and plastic dragons, the bean has a serious passion for those tiny knick-knacks and toys (our bare feet on the other hand, are not a fan).

Cubby Detail

So we thought a wall-hanging box with a bunch of cubbies for her little friends would be a fun spot for her to house them – and we even decided to personalize it with fabric from her photo project that she picked out beforehand (not knowing what it would be for). That way she’d have a hand in “customizing” her Christmas surprise.

On Wall

We chose this spot on her wall below her blue clock since she already loves putting figures on the small ledge of the clock (although only about three of them can fit). We thought a 13″ x 17″ sized box would fit best under there, so we started by sketching a few shelf configurations.

At first we considered doing a slew of cubbies that were the same size (like this charming figurine shelf) but we also wanted to accommodate different sized toys. In the end, we thought a variety of cubby sizes would work nicely since Clara likes to group some of her figurines (like all of her peg princesses) while keeping others apart (in her words: “silly mommy, birds don’t play with dragons!”). So after landing on a final shelf plan, we started building.

Cubby Planning Sheet

Once we had a rough sense of dimensions, we bought a bunch of 1/2″ thick craft boards from Home Depot (totaling around $20, including extra for bad cuts) and John cut the top, bottom, and side pieces along with a variety of divider pieces for the interior.

Cubby Pieces Cut

You can see in the picture above that the outer frame pieces are semi-attached already. We did that using wood glue and some 1/2″ brad nails. To try to get the corner all square John held it against the corner of a box when nailing (which also helped brace them together while using the nail gun).

Cubby Nailing Corners

Before assembling anything else, we took a moment to bust out some toys from Clara’s collection to double-check our plans. You know, to make sure the sizing and spacing made sense. Aaaand it didn’t. Well, not totally. So we shifted things around a bit more and I ran into the garage and cut a few more pieces to make it work.

Cubby Sizing With Toys

Once all the pieces were cut, we started building from the bottom up. Using a spacer that I had cut, we set the first row of vertical dividers in place with glue and nails (from the bottom). Then John put the first horizontal shelf on top and glue/nailed them from the top as well.

Cubby Nailing First Layer

We let that dry overnight and then added the next row of shelving in the same way.

Cubby Nailing Second Layer

Once all of the insides had been attached, we finished off the frame by attaching the other L-shaped piece we had first constructed. Then John added a thin piece of leftover plywood as a back (cut to size on our table saw) with – you guessed it – glue and nails. It kinda felt like adding the cardboard back-pieces to Ikea bookcases.

Cubby Adding Back

Then it was just one coat of primer and two coats of Simply White paint in semi-gloss (which in retrospect would’ve been easier to do before attaching the back piece).

Cubby Painted

Once it was built, primed, and painted, it was onto the fun part. Asking Clara which fabrics she liked best. Turns out the girl is very decisive, and she landed on her favorite right away (“the one with the pink flamingos!”) and also pretty quickly pointed to five others, while dismissing a bunch of options with a “nope” or a “next!”

Picking Fabric

Then when she was all tucked into bed on Christmas Eve, I scurried to get the fabric in place. First by making little paper templates for the cubbies where I wanted to add fabric rectangles (I used them to cut the actual fabric nice and accurately). I didn’t want to add fabric to all of the cubbies for fear that it would look too crazy, so again I drew inspiration from this figurine shelf and did about 50% of them, while leaving the other half white.

Paper Fabric Templates

I considered using starch to adhere the fabric, but then thought “can’t I just Mod Podge them?” A quick google search answered my question (“yes!”) and since I already had that on hand, it was nice and fast (without any last minute craft store runs). I used a small craft brush to paint the back of the cubby with the Mod Podge (not the fabric itself) and then I carefully placed the fabric right against the Mod Podged shelf-back and pressed it all so it was wrinkle free and stuck nicely in place. Thirty minutes later it was 100% dry and completely secure. So simple.

Mod Podge

Clara was really excited to see her gift in the morning. Not only did she love that her little friends now have a place to call home, she also liked seeing the fabric that she remembered choosing the night before. I really do think kids get the biggest kick out of being a part of the process, especially in their room, so it was sweet to see her face light up and hear her say “You remembered my flamingos!”

Clara On Christmas1

We weren’t sure if she would actually play within the cubbies, or just use them as a home base for keeping things housed when she’s not actively using them, but it turns out she likes to do both. She plays “apartment” with them in their cubbies (apparently Ariel doesn’t mind sharing a room with a dragon) and she has also been pulling some (ok, all) of them out to play with them elsewhere, but has been awesome about bringing them back “home” when she’s done.

Cubby Bottom

So that’s what we built, painted, and fabric-a-fied for Clara this Christmas. Our total was $20 since all we purchased was the wood for this project, but if you don’t already have things like wood glue, paint, or Mod Podge on hand it could run you around $5-20 more. Oh and to hang it we screwed two d-rings like this directly to the back of the cubby, and then hooked them over screws which we secured to the wall with anchors for a nice firm hold.

Did you guys make any homemade kid gifts? A few people have shared some amazing play kitchens with us in the last few days. Has it really been two years since we made Clara’s? Crazytown.

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Comments

  1. Jess says

    Happy new year, YHL! Awesome gift for the bean! Not only does she clearly love it now, but that’s something she could keep forever. I can see makeup and trinkets as a teenager, and maybe a spice rack someday! What a lucky little lady she is :)

    Reply

  2. Flagless says

    So, has she actually caught onto the fact that you are the ones who make her presents, and not Father Christmas? Since she was happy that you remembered the fabric?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Growing up John and I both got some gifts marked “from Santa” on the tag, and some from our parents/relatives, so we choose some gifts each year to be from Santa and others that we say are from us (since she was involved with picking the fabric on this one, we made it from us).

      xo
      s

  5. Amanda says

    This is TOO cute! I’m totally inspired and already thinking of handmade gifts I can make for our little man in the future (except, he hasn’t even made his grand appearance yet – four week left! – so I guess I have lots of time to think on it.) I’m glad she loved it – such a creative idea!

    Reply

  8. Sarah says

    So cute! We had several homemade gifts this year. My husband made our 5-year old a bunk bed for her AG doll and a farmhouse style bed for my niece’s AG doll. I made the bedding (after getting over the fear of my sewing machine) and it all turned out adorable! Gpa made our 2-year old some big wooden cube blocks and a set of wooden tools. He’s made a Pottery Barn-ish doll house, rocking chair and kitchen for her in the past as well as a tool bench, barn and rocking horse for our boys. Oh, and my hubby has made our oldest son an under the bed Lego table and our other son a 3-hole bean bag toss game in previous years! Busy guys! One thing I wish is that Gpa would use better quality wood instead of MDF, etc. It just doesn’t hold up to everyday play. So much work for it to break is sad! :(

    Reply

  10. Lauren says

    Wow! You guys are legit the sweetest parents ever! I hope I can be half as awesome as you are with Clara when I have children. Seriously – you are great role models for the perfect parents! Xo

    Reply

  11. Alisa says

    We made our daughter (almost 2) a play kitchen. I covered all the “appliances” in stainless steel contact paper, added fancy handles, and made a little tile backsplash behind the flattop stove :) I definitely got carried away, but the look on that girls face when she saw it was SO worth all the trips to blue and orange.

    Reply

  12. Kate says

    Very cute! Reminds me of the curio cabinets that were always in my room growing up, except much more fun and casual.

    No handmade gifts here, but I’m thinking of making some homemade blocks from Ana White for my daughter’s first birthday in the beginning of Feb. Just not sure what I’d want to finish them with.

    Reply

  13. Jaime says

    We have that same lion toy and my son decided to flush him down the toilet. We had to take the whole toilet off the floor to get it working again. Watch out for that guy. ;)

    Reply

  14. Evelina says

    I love it! And it sure looks like Clara loves it too! How did you guys make the nails on the inside completely disappear?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      All the nails to hold the back on came from the back into the framing if that makes sense, so they weren’t visible, and as we built it, we tried to hide as many as we could (wood filler plus primer & paint seemed to work).

      xo
      s

  15. Rachel says

    What a beautiful cubby you created for Clara. My favorite part though is that Clara might be the coolest kid in the world with the most awesome parents who make her things for Christmas that she loves and wants to use. Most things associated with Christmas are about buying, buying, buying and I just really love how you make something each year. That is so special :-)

    Reply

  16. Jess says

    My husband built a lego table for our son and I was spending the two days before Christmas in a painting frenzy! Nothing like the last minute to get stuff done! My husband did a great job! He made the table legs look like legos and rounded of the corners of the table to make lego heads. My son absolutely loves his table so thankfully it was worth all the work!

    Reply

  19. Megan M. says

    All 3 of our kiddos LOVE Legos, but they seem to always have to be moving creations while still in the process of building them. So, this Christmas we decided to make them each a portable Lego tray with a large base plate attached. They loved them and we love how easy it’s been to keep the Legos off the dining room table when it’s time for dinner :).

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=599863236716829&set=pcb.450155581777100&type=1&theater

    Reply

  20. Megan @ The Brick Bungalow says

    I love this! My dad builds my daughter presents. He created a three piece kitchen set (like Pottery Barn’s version), a two sided easel, and a giant Barbie house (kinda based off Ana White’s plans but slightly bigger). We are already planning on future gifts for my son (BBQ grill and a tool stand). I love homemade gifts and I know my daughter would love this. We installed board and batten in her room this summer and it’s home to Squinkies, Tinkerbell, and other tiny toys.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha, yes! She had two pairs she wanted to wear, so for the day/evening of Christmas Eve she wore her Santa ones and then she wore the reindeer ones to sleep in at night and wake up in the morning.

      xo
      s

  22. Mary says

    I love seeing what you hand-make! I think this is a great tradition!

    I bought some 2″ blocks, put 6 into the shape of a 4×6 photo, and then asked for a family photo from all of my siblings. I rubber-banded the blocks to hold shape, mod-podged a photo on to a side, allowed to dry, sliced between the blocks to separate, (repeated 6 times for each side of the cube), mod-podged the surface to protect, and then covered with a clear sealant. Kinda like this website: http://starsandsunshine.com/2012/06/12/photoblocks/ (not my blog).

    Reply

  24. LauraC says

    Your Clara projects are the best ones and this is no exception! Very cute and special. I had a (store bought) cubby for my little figurines when I was growing up; had it on my wall forever. We (re)made a play kitchen for our two this year and it turned out great! So much inspiration on the www. Happy New Year!

    Reply

  25. Jaclyn says

    What a cool gift! I love the look of hanging wall cubbies and the white paint and fabric makes it look so crisp and graphic. I’m definitely going to have to try this! My crafty, homemade kid gift was a hand knit sweater for my daughter Emily. This was her second Christmas and her second Christmas sweater. Last year I decided to start a tradition of knitting her a sweater every year. The past two Christmases I’ve chosen the pattern (obviously, since she’s a baby) but when she gets bigger I’ll certainly be letting her pick out sweater patterns she wants for her Christmas sweater. (I might branch out into knitting her toys or a dress at some point, if that’s what she wants.) I love that she has a handmade, special gift from Mommy under the tree each year!

    Reply

  26. Kirsten says

    Oh my goodness, I adore this!! This may be a project in our future. I renovated my daughter’s dollhouse (some coats of paint and scrapbook paper wallpaper) and made felted wool balls for our little boy as our handmade gifts this year.

    I always love seeing what you guys have in store each Christmas! Will you be doing gifts like this for the baby?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      They’re LalaLoopsy dolls that I found at Target. They remind me of Raggedy Ann for some reason. And Clara loves that they’re named Tinny and Pickles.

      xo
      s

  28. Kristin says

    Does Clara wear different pjs at night and then change at some point before the morning? Or did she really not pick the fabrics out the night before?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      She had two pairs she wanted to wear (Santa and reindeer) so she put on the Santa ones for the afternoon/evening of Christmas Eve and then changed into the reindeer ones right before bed to sleep (and wake up on Christmas Day) in those :)

      xo
      s

  29. lindsay says

    Charming – I wish we had done something like this. Two of my three children were similarly enamored with small figures, and we have lots of funny memories that include them. Once, our son took ‘The Amazing Invisible Woman’ (a Happy Meal toy) to a big box store we were shopping at, and as boys are prone to do, tossed it as high as he could. Alas, it landed on a box on the very top shelf. I am still grateful to the brave young man who used the heavy portable stairs to rescue her and return her to his care. She was placed safely in our freezer (she’s a color changing figurine), and remains there to this day – seventeen years later!

    Reply

  30. Susan says

    Such a cute idea! I feel like I’d probably need to make a skyscraper for all of my daughter’s figurines at the moment! We were given a kid-sized chair earlier this year by a former coworker that needed a little TLC and a new bottom cushion and pillow. I did a very similar thing and whipped out the old sewing machine 2 nights before Christmas and the chair turned out so great! My 15 month old loves to climb up and down to sit in it and my 5 year old has also been caught watching TV in her brother’s chair!

    Reply

  31. Carrie says

    This takes me back! I made a similar shelf in my 8th grade wood shop class (a required class at my public school…I hope kids still get the chance to try their hand using power towels and drafting plans). Only it was for my troll doll collection! Ha! Hello 1993.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh troll dolls, how I loved them. I had them lined up on my windowsill for so many years the back of their hair was bleached white from the sun. No shame in loving those trolls!

      xo
      s

  33. Katherine Victoria says

    You guys are so clever – is it weird that I, a grown woman, wants to live in a room just like Clara’s :-P I can’t wait to see you how put your spin on a boy’s room!

    Reply

  34. Karen K. says

    Hello – I have a painting question – please. I find that when I paint trim especially- that I need to sane between coats. The first coat seems to raise the grain and so i have sand to smooth it back out. I do not recall seeing you ever mention sanding between coats – so would appreciate your advice. Thanks and congrats on new baby and new house! p.s. the reason I am asking is because the sanding while I love the resulting smoothness, always cause so much “mess” as in dust.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We just do thin and even coats, and we usually don’t need to sand between coats so we skip that (unless otherwise noted) and it seems to work out well for us. I’m sure it differs by wood grain and how you apply the paint, etc, though!

      xo
      s

  35. Abby says

    So, does Clara not believe in Santa or do you guys give her one gift from you two, and then the rest come from Santa, re: her quote “You guys remembered my flamingos?, and not “Santa remembered my flamingos”.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Growing up John and I both got some gifts from Santa and some from our parents/relatives, so since she helped me pick fabrics this was one of the ones that was from us and not Santa :)

      xo
      s

  36. Michelle K. says

    Great idea and execution!!!

    I made a puppet theater (totally winged it w/o a pattern) for my niece and then made one for my kids too. It hangs in a doorway (or in my nieces case, the alcove of a window in her playroom that has a bench seat) using a tension rod, so it can be up or down in 2 seconds and stores super thin in a closet!!
    http://instagram.com/p/iN1oP7TBgj/

    The curtains tie back with ribbon and can be let out during intermission ;) there’s also a pocket on the bottom to store hand puppets… which I also made two of for my niece and for my kids. As if the puppet theater didn’t take long enough to sew…. I don’t have a great pic of the puppets on the computer yet (I’ve taken a week+ hiatus from the computer)… but here is the theater in use at my moms on Christmas day when my son and my sister put on a little show. (My daughter giggling along kills me.) I made a knight and princess puppet using a pattern I bought on etsy. So glad I bought a pattern for those, they turned out great too!
    http://instagram.com/p/iXa8EDTBhg/

    It was A LOT of man hours on my part…. but, I love making things for the kids every year too! :)

    Reply

  37. Ali says

    Aww love this! Reminds me of the two house cubbies that I had for my wooden dollhouse pets (aka: small glass animals from the craft store). Basically, they were very similar to what you guys built but it had two slanted pieces of wood at the top to make it look more like a house. I know my Mom has them in storage somewhere so if I ever have a little girl I’ll have to remember to add a piece of wood on the backs of mine so I can add fun “wallpaper”.

    Reply

  38. Leila Waddell says

    Hi,

    This is really cute, but since I have a boy, his toys are a big bigger.. All wood craft that we make on http://lowesbuildandgrow.com/ workshops. We take him there since he was 1 year old, so you image the huge collection he has.

    On another note, Im shopping for an Ottoman and I was wondering how you are managing the leather white ottoman with Clara and Burger? Did you have any issues with crayons, markers, or dog paws? Thanks!!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      That has been awesomely wipeable for snacks and puppy feet so we love it! There is a “no markers on there” rule since we try to keep those relegated to her desk in the office.

      xo
      s

  39. Katie says

    Did you get the peg dolls from an ETSY store named “PEGGED?” A new friend of mine makes those and they look identical to Clara’s? Just curious and wanted to give her a “Shout-Out” if they were hers….

    Reply

  40. Karen says

    YOU guys are such good parents!!! That’s super-sweet that you hand make her something every year like that! Adopt me?

    Reply

  41. Molly says

    When my boys were little I got them each one of those fold up cutting boards for sewing, some deeply discount flat sheets and a variety of clips (Think chip clips). These were configured into endless forts, spaceships, life-size robots and heaven knows what else! The best part was at the end of the day, un-clip the sheets, fold everything up and stash it under the couch.

    I’m sure you could prettify those cutting boards somehow…my boys really didn’t care, but if were doing that today, I would definitely gussy them up!

    BTW..those little boys are now 16 and 19. They don’t really build forts, but they still love it when I make them stuff! you’re instilling values that you are really going to enjoy when she’s older!

    Molly

    Reply

  42. Karen says

    Oh one other thing, I watched all the videos of you waking her every Christmas morning, (sooo cute!), so I was so looking forward to this year’s… what happened?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      That video is usually in the “what we got each other” Christmas Day post, so since this was the “Clara’s present” tutorial, we saved it for the main Christmas Day / everyone’s gift post. Hope to have that for ya soon!

      xo
      s

  43. Angel p says

    So cute! I made lots of handmade gifts this year as well. I made a fabric “color” book for one baby cousin. Another got handmade baby accessories for her baby dolls like fabric diapers, burp rags, bibs, lovies, etc. I also made 6 pillows that either sported the kids name or their favorite college (depending on age). Everything was a hit.

    Reply

  45. Leslie says

    Oh, and I was also wondering if you were going to start on your nursery soon. I’m just a few weeks behind you and also expecting a boy (#2) so I’m super pumped to copy, ahem, be inspired by what you do!! Thanks!

    Reply

  47. Bailey says

    Very cute idea – I love that you guys make her a homemade present each year. I also can’t get over how creative Clara already is!! What a special little one :)

    Bailey

    Reply

  48. Carla says

    Oh, my gosh. The stuff of my childhood dreams! My Smurfs would have loved a little shelf like that. Right now they’ve taken up roost in my bathroom. I keep several in a clear glass jar on the back of the toilet, and always have three or four colorful Smurfs out on the shelf above the toilet. I rotated in Santa Smurf for the holidays.

    Yep. I’m 43 years old and still love my Smurfs.

    Reply

  49. Sarah says

    Love the idea and the personalization with fabric. Was this from Santa or you guys? Would love to hear what else Clara got for Christmas (especially how you deal with storing/displaying her haul). We’re on baby #3 and the house is feeling taken over with kid stuff. It’s been hard to convince our family that the kids really don’t need more stuff for birthdays/Christmas.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Growing up John and I both got some gifts from Santa and some from our parents or other relatives so that’s what we do with Clara. Since she picked the fabric with me, we made this one from us. As for other things Clara (and that John and I) got, we always share a “who got who what” post, so we hope to have that for you soon!

      xo
      s

  50. Meredith says

    Years ago my father-in-law made cedar “hope” chests for myself, my daughter (she is now almost 22), his wife and his daughter for Christmas. We all still have them and LOVE them. It was a labor of love. Maybe Clara would like something like that to keep special things in and have it forever. It is one of my most prized possessions; especially now that 20 years later he is blind. Keep it in mind for a “we made it” gift for her. I promise you she will treasure it always!
    Ps: I am an older fan (45) and live in Hanover, VA and adore your blog!

    Reply

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