When there is a child in the house, it is very important to use the living space wisely so that there is a place for active games. And it’s also good when toys, books and much more are always in the same place so that you can easily find them. Best of all for this purpose, special racks for toys are suitable, which you can assemble yourself, having previously prepared a drawing.
Benefits of the solution
Homemade shelving for a child's room can be designed so that it can transform as the child grows. For example, increase cells, add new ones, increase sections up or along the width of the structure.
Do-it-yourself toy rack can be made even by someone who has never assembled furniture before and is not versed in the construction business. Such a design can be made from various improvised materials: wooden boards or beams, chipboard or plastic boards. But for the frame, you can use a metal-based corner.
In the special literature you can find a lot of design solutions and drawings for a children's rack, and the color scheme should be chosen together with the child. And if you show imagination, then for surecreate a real furniture masterpiece yourself.
What tools do you need for the job?
The most common designs on a wooden base, much less often make a rack for toys made of plastic or some other. We will take the first option as an example.
For independent work you will need the following set of carpentry and other tools:
- clamps;
- carpenter's corner;
- construction tape measure;
- drill;
- wood saw;
- screwdriver with bits;
- pliers;
- hammer;
- planer;
- chisel or chisel;
- sandpaper;
- fixing fittings for shelves and frame to the wall.
Now let's go directly to how to make a DIY toy rack.
Sketching
Of course, the work will not be so difficult if it is carried out according to preliminary preparations. That is why we need at least a sketch - a visualization of how your toy rack will look like. The photo of the one you like can become the main one for him.
Toy racks can be drawn by hand, there are no special requirements for the sketch, so you do not need to be a professional artist to draw it. When it is ready, you can divide the drawing into “spare parts” with a pencil and calculate how many materials you will need.
Shelving components
Of course, it all depends on the project, financial capabilities and sizedesigns. Most often, shelving for toys in a children's room is assembled from the following materials:
- wooden cubes of different sizes (wide, regular and for boxes);
- details for base made of chipboard;
- self-adhesive edges under them;
- back walls of cubes and bottom for boxes;
- rollers;
- chipboard sheets for the facade of the desired shade;
- loops.
Production of the structure frame
First you need to deal with the walls of the future rack. The sides, bottom and top need to be cut out of the boards, and its back part - from plywood. Next, prepare the shelves with dividers. It is advisable to somehow mark each finished part, it will be convenient when working. Also in the side edges, on the upper and lower edges of the inner walls, cut out the folds and finally make grooves in the right places.
Cut to size boards should have a good corner joint, which can be provided with spikes and lugs. On their end parts, make cuts with a hacksaw with fine teeth to the thickness of the parts to be joined.
We select the groove for the tenon with a chisel or chisel. Glue the joints of the shelving parts and connect them with clamps until they dry. From the inside of the frame, it is best to put additional fasteners in the form of a metal corner.
Installing shelves
When the shelving frame is ready, it is advisable to make precise markings for the installation of internal structures. So it will be easier for you to navigate where the shelves will be andvertical piers.
They, together with the separators, must be connected using special separate nails at the rate of two pieces for one fastener. Also, these places need to be additionally glued.
And to fix the intermediate shelves, you need to make a studded ridge connection on a round or square tongue. The easiest option is to use a wooden stud. Under it, you need to make through holes along the frame board, and in the shelf ends that are associated with it, drill nests that are two-thirds of its length in size. Next, put the studs on wood glue or PVA.
After the design dries, it is treated with sandpaper and then coated with paint or varnish. Then, the toy racks, when mounted in the right place, are fastened to the wall with a metal corner. When installing, the shelves are fixed with corner clamps to ensure right angles and structural strength.
Installation of baguettes or other framing
First, cut off a part of it to decorate the upper edge of the structure with a hacksaw and bevel the ends at an angle of 45 degrees. In order not to translate the material, strictly observe the dimensions. Apply adhesive to the fold, then place the baguette and press it with clamps. Install the rest of its parts in the same way, at the end fix the corner joints.
However, remember that our toy racks can be more interesting to decorate accordingly. For example, drawers will look more fun if you hang a self-adhesive melamine edge on them. Another option is to installsheets of different colors or paste over the surface with a film of one shade or another, or with the image of cartoon or fairy-tale characters.
To attach the edge, attach it with the adhesive side to the end of the structure and heat it with an iron. Then iron with a cloth until it adheres tightly to the surface, scrape off the excess edges with sandpaper or a dull knife.
Installing drawers
To equip the structure with them, there is nothing complicated, the main thing is to correctly calculate their dimensions. A toy rack with drawers is as easy to assemble as a normal one. For their basis, we need chipboard, while the plates should have a thickness of about 16 mm. But as a bottom, it is recommended to use hardboard, which either cuts into the walls or is nailed to them with nails.
In order for the drawers to move freely from their cells, it is advisable to buy special rollers for furniture. In addition, they will serve as additional fasteners for the bottom of the structure.
The front of the box can be made from both colored chipboard and ready-made structures of the desired size.
Also, in addition to this and the rollers, prepare self-tapping screws for screwing them, hinges for plates and confirmations - couplers.
Our DIY toy rack is almost ready.
Final stage of work
At the end, you will need to drill holes on the structure for mounting fittings, and then finish:
- fill all holes;
- clean the adhesive if it sticks out at the joints;
- cover the structure with a protective compound, more often varnish is used for this purpose.
To drill a hole correctly, mark its center with a core, and then work with a drill with the desired diameter. We insert markers for dowels into the resulting gap, which will help mark the place for drilling under the second part. So the holes will match when assembling the structure. The dowels are inserted when the fastener locations are done on both parts.
We looked at how to make a wooden toy rack, now let's find out how this work can be done using other materials.
Assembling drywall product
Toy racks based on this material are not so difficult to make. As a result, the structure will last for a long time. Before work, do not forget to sketch it and calculate the required amount of material for work. As a rule, the dimensions are as follows: a plasterboard sheet with a width of about 1.2 m and a length of 2 to 4.5 m. Its thickness is 6-24 mm.
If, in addition to toys and other children's accessories, you plan to put a TV or something large on the rack, then it is recommended to purchase a metal corner instead of the usual profile.
A regular UD profile will do for the frame. Attach the base rails to the floor and wall with self-tapping screws and build vertical sidewalls, horizontal shelves and intermediate walls from them. The frame during the installation process must be constantlycheck for evenness horizontally and vertically using a spirit level.
When it's ready, take 25mm metal screws and secure the top and bottom shelves with them. Then the frame is sheathed with drywall in small steps. You can use all sorts of curves and smooth transitions, not limited to right angles and lines.
Putty plasterboard shelving
First, clean the surface from dust and dirt, then treat the places where the screws are screwed in with a special primer. After that, we glue the reinforcing mesh on the seams and butt joints. Don't forget to prime them too.
Corners and slopes are equipped with a metal or plastic corner. If the shelves are curly or arched, then choose a product with a bending structure. Apply putty to the corner on both sides in the same even layer and press it in as tightly as possible. If part of it protrudes through the perforation, remove it with a staple and level the surface.
When the first starting coat of putty dries, apply the second one, which is also the final one. Be careful not to damage the finished surface. To this end, leave the edge of the working edge on the spatula clean and even.
After the last layer has hardened, we grind all surfaces with a special grater equipped with a replaceable abrasive mesh, then we smear them with a primer and cover them with water-based paint.
It is highly desirable that the toy racks in the children's room are in harmony with other furniture.
Homemade Corner Toy Rack
It is worth dwelling on the manufacturing technology of this type of construction separately. If you want to make a corner toy rack for a child's room, then prepare the following for work:
- chipboard with maple veneer;
- X syringe screws;
- maple fingerboard about 20mm wide;
- 2 flat guides;
- wood glue;
- sandpaper;
- drill with a drill for wood;
- iron;
- hacksaw.
Stages of work on assembling the structure
First of all, you will need to cut out the bottom and top walls from a chipboard saw, then five shelves, and then connecting structures in the amount of four pieces. Each detail must have its own size. After that, we clean the edges with sandpaper and glue the maple lining on the ribs with an iron. We remove excess edges and connect the places where the parts are glued together with screws.
Drill three holes along the top and bottom edges. Then we glue the structural parts and fasten them with the same screws. It is recommended to assemble the rack starting from the bottom shelves and walls, since the top and bottom ribs should be in the same plane.
The next step is gluing and screwing to the tender shelf of the connecting wall along the short edge. And to its upper edge we mount the second. Then we perform similar actions in the same sequence. At the end of the rackits top shelf is attached.
Other ways to store toys
Naturally, far from everyone, parents can always make their own toy racks or buy them. Sometimes the issue is finances, also a small room or lack of time can be the reason. Therefore, as alternative and simple ways to equip a place for toys, you can give the following:
- arrangement of plastic boxes in the room (sometimes they can be attached to the wall);
- mounting metal hanging baskets;
- mesh designs from garden shops;
- painted car tires can also be a place to store toys;
- wooden vintage crates;
- plastic buckets connected to each other by jumpers.
Well, if you and your child want something simpler and less original, and the space in the room allows, it is better to get a toy cabinet that will fit anything.
There are a lot of ideas about this, but making a rack for children's toys with your own hands will be very interesting for the parents themselves, you can also involve the guys in the process.
