Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Laundry basket dresser



I have a daughter who does not like to put her clothes away.  They are usually thrown on her bedroom floor, which makes me very unhappy.  So, I have been trying to figure out how to solve the problem since punishment does not seem to be working out.
I found this on pinterest http://pinterest.com/pin/227150374925439864/  And thought, that may work.  Of coarse, this woman wanted to organize her laundry room, but I don't feel like a laundry room is for entertaining, it is for laundry.  Therefore, I am not concerned with a beautiful laundry room.  (Mine is in the basement anyway.)
I decided that I would build a version of this for my daughter's room.  That way, if she doesn't want to put the clothes away, she can at least put the baskets together on these shelves and I won't have to see the mess.
So, I went to Lowes and picked out the wood.  I only bought paint grade pine because I am not looking to build an heirloom quality piece here, I just want the bedroom clean!
The pieces I had to buy were:
3 pieces of 36x16 inch 1inch thick boards. (paint grade pine)
2 pieces of 36x24 inch plywood for the back and bottom
1 piece of 2x2 cut in to 6; 23 1/2 inch lenghts.
I just found a nice employee and asked them to cut it for me.
wood glue
wood screws
quart of paint.
3 cheap, rectangle laundry baskets

I left the top piece longer than needed because we had a set of Rubbermaid drawers that I wanted to fit under it.  If you don't want to do that, just cut the piece for the top to 25 inches.
1. Paint the color of your choice.  Both sides!
2. Measure where you want the 2x2 rails to be.  I used the laundry baskets here just to make sure everything would fit.  The first was 2 inches below the top.  since the baskets were 10 inches deep, I went down 11 inches for the next set, and measured up 11 inches from the bottom for the last.
3. Drill holes where you want the rails to be.  Add a bead of wood glue and screw in those rails.
4. Drill holes for the top.  Add a bead of wood glue and screw the top onto the sides.
5. add a bead of wood glue and nail the bottom and back onto the sides.
6. Touch up any needed paint.
7. Insert your laundry baskets!
8. Cross your fingers and hope your child uses it as intended!

I also put some hooks on the long side to hang the outfit planned for school each morning.  To pretty up the Rubbermaid drawers, I just covered the fronts with scrapbook paper and packing tape.
This project only took me 2 hours with painting; thanks to my wonderful step-dad who owns an air compressor and power tools!


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