8' Toy chest

Here is a project from a while ago that I forgot to post. I teamed up with a friend to build this toy chest for his young son. The idea was to get toys off the floor with this giant, easy to build project. Some people wouldn't call this woodworking, and that's fine, but this is the style of  building that suits the purpose. It is going to take some abuse, and probably be relatively temporary. This will be easy to repair, disassemble, or hand down to someone else after the kid(s) age a bit.

Toy chest, mid build. The lid breaks into 3', 2', and 3' sections.

The chest is 8' long, the same length as full sized sheets of plywood, and the 2"x4" lumber we bought. The two 4'x8' sheets of plywood were cut down the middle lengthwise. Two 2"x4"x8' boards were screwed to each one, running down each side. These form the front and back .After that, we screwed the ends and bottoms in, using short lengths of 2x4's to complete the frame. All the plywood dimensions are in 1' increments, and the 2"x4"s are measured to fit in the spaces.

The only part of the project you could call "joinery". Fun to slap together, though.

We made a couple notches for cross-pieces across the top, which stiffen the frame and support the segmented lid. If I recall correctly, it only took a couple of hours to put it together. The sanding and painting took longer. I'm posting this at this time of year because I think something similar could make a good last minute gift for someone. Maybe a little kid, or maybe a parent with a mess on their hands.

If you build this, have some rope on hand.

P.S. A note on safety: Plywood chest lids can be a danger to small fingers and heads.If you build this project, you may want to look into hinges designed for this problem, or be extra watchful

 

This is a happy kid. Now He's a considerably larger happy kid. I really ought to have posted this a long time ago.