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. It’s also good when toys, books and much more are always in the same place so that you can easily find. Best for this purpose are special racks for toys, which can be assembled independently, having previously prepared a drawing.
Solution Benefits
A home- made shelving for a children's room can be designed so that it can transform during the growth of a child. For example, enlarge cells, add new ones, build sections up or across the width of the structure.
Do-it-yourself shelving for toys can be done even by someone who has never previously assembled furniture and is not versed in construction. This design can be made from various improvised materials: wooden boards or beams, chipboards or plastic. But for the frame, you can use a corner based on metal.
In the literature, you can find a lot of design solutions and drawings for the children's shelving, and the color scheme should be chosen along with the child. And if you show imagination, then surely create your own real furniture masterpiece yourself.
What tools are needed to work?
The most common designs on a wooden base, much less likely to make a toy rack 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;
- carpentry corner;
- building tape;
- drill;
- wood hacksaw ;
- screwdriver with bits;
- pliers;
- hammer;
- plane;
- chisel or chisel;
- sandpaper;
- mounting hardware for shelves and frame to the wall.
And now let's go directly to how to make a toy rack with your own hands.
Sketching
Naturally, 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 what your toy rack will look like. A photo of someone you like can become the main one for him.
Shelves for toys can be painted by hand, there are no special requirements for the sketch, so you do not need to be a professional artist to compose it. When it is ready, you can use a pencil to divide the drawing into “spare parts” and calculate how many materials are needed.
Rack components
Of course, it all depends on the project, financial capabilities and the size of the structure. Most often, shelves for toys in the nursery are assembled from the following materials:
- wooden cubes of different sizes (wide, ordinary and under the boxes);
- parts for the base of chipboard;
- self-adhesive edges under them;
- back walls of cubes and a bottom for boxes;
- rollers;
- LDSP sheets for the facade of the desired shade;
- loops.
Fabrication of the frame structure
First you need to do the walls of the future rack. Side, bottom and top need to be cut from the boards, and the back of it - from plywood. Next, prepare the shelves with dividers. It is advisable to mark each finished part somehow, it will be convenient when working. Also in the lateral edges, on the upper and lower edges of the inner walls, we cut the folds and finally make the grooves in the right places.
Cut out according to the size of the board should have a good angular connection, which can be provided with spikes and eyes. At the end parts, make a hacksaw with small teeth to cut the thickness of the connected parts.
We select a groove under the spike with a chisel or chisel. Glue the joints of the parts of the rack and connect them with clamps until they dry. Inside the frame, it is best to put additional fasteners in the form of a metal corner.
Shelf installation
When the frame of the rack 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 and vertical piers will stand.
They together with dividers need to be connected by means of special separate nails at the rate of two pieces for one fixture. Also, these places need additional glue.
And in order to fix the intermediate shelves, you need to make a studded connection to the tongue of a round or square tongue. The easiest option is to use a wooden stud. Through it, you need to make through holes on the frame board, and in the shelf ends that are paired with it, drill nests that are two-thirds of its size. Next, put the studs on carpentry glue or PVA.
After the structure dries, it is treated with sandpaper and then coated with paint or varnish. Then, racks for toys, when mounted at the right place, are fastened to the wall with a metal corner. When installing the shelves are fixed with angle clamps to ensure right angles and structural strength.
Installing baguettes or other frames
To begin, cut off a part from it to form the upper edge of the structure with a hacksaw and mow the ends at an angle of 45 degrees. In order not to translate the material, strictly observe the dimensions. Put the adhesive on the seam, then put the baguette and press it with clamps. Install the rest of its parts in the same way, fix the corner joints at the end.
However, remember that our racks for toys, respectively, to decorate them can be more interesting. For example, boxes will look more fun if you hang on them a self-adhesive melamine edge. Another option is to install sheets of different colors or to paste over the surface with a film of one or another shade, or with the image of cartoon or fairy-tale characters.
To fasten the edge, attach it with the adhesive side to the end of the structure and warm it with an iron. Then iron with a rag until it adheres firmly to the surface, scrape off the excess edges with sandpaper or a blunt knife.
Box installation
To equip them with a design, 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 regular one. For their basis, we need chipboard, while the plates should have thicknesses of the order of 16 mm. But as a bottom, it is recommended to use a hardboard, which either cuts into the walls, or is nailed to them by means of nails.
In order to drawers can freely move out of their cells, it is advisable to buy special casters for furniture. In addition, they will serve as additional fasteners for the bottom of the structure.
The facade of the box can be made of both colored chipboard and finished 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 - ties.
Our DIY rack for toys, designed, is almost ready.
The final stage of work
In the end, you will need to drill holes on the structure for mounting hardware, and then finish:
- putty all holes;
- clean the glue if it protrudes 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 do the work with a drill with the right diameter. We insert markers for dowels in the resulting slot, which will help mark the place for drilling under the second part. So the holes match when assembling the structure. Dowels are inserted when places for fasteners are done on both parts.
We examined how to make a rack for toys made of wood, now let's find out how this work can be done using other materials.
Drywall assembly
Shelving for toys based on this material is not so difficult to make. The design as a result will last quite a long time. Before work, do not forget to sketch it and calculate the necessary amount of material for work. As a rule, the dimensions are as follows: gypsum plasterboard 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 overall on the shelf, then instead of the usual profile, it is recommended to purchase a corner made of metal.
For the frame, a normal UD profile is suitable. Attach the base rails to the floor and wall using self-tapping screws and from them erect the vertical sidewalls, horizontal shelves and intermediate walls. The frame during installation must be constantly checked for evenness horizontally and vertically using spirit level.
When it is ready, take 25 mm metal screws and fasten the upper and lower shelves with them. Then the frame is sheathed in small steps with drywall. You can use all kinds of rounding and smooth transitions, not limited to right angles and lines.
Plasterboard putty
To begin with, clean the surface from dust and dirt, then treat the screwing points of the screws with a special primer. After that, we glue the reinforcing mesh on the seams and butt joints. Do not 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 folding structure. Apply putty on both sides with an even, even layer and press 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 layer of putty dries, apply the second, it is the final one. Take care not to damage the finish. 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 shelves for toys in the nursery harmoniously combine with other furniture.
Homemade Corner Toy Rack
On the manufacturing technology of this type of design is worth stopping separately. If you want to make a corner rack for toys for a children's room, then prepare the following for work:
- chipboard equipped with maple veneer;
- cross-shaped screws with a syringe;
- maple cover with a width of about 20 mm;
- 2 flat guides;
- wood glue;
- sand paper;
- wood drill;
- iron;
- hacksaw.
Stages of assembly work
First of all, it will be necessary to saw out the lower and upper walls from a wood-saw, then five shelves, and then connecting structures in the amount of four pieces. Each part must have its own size. After that, we clean the edges with emery paper and glue the maple pads on the ribs with an iron. We remove the excess edges and connect the places for gluing parts with screws.
Drill three holes along the lower and upper edges. Then we glue and fasten the structural parts with the same screws. It is recommended to assemble the rack starting from the lower shelves and walls, since the upper part and the ribs below should be located in the same plane.
The next stage of work is gluing and screwing to the tender shelf of the connecting wall along the short edge. And we mount the second to its upper edge. Next, we perform similar actions in the same sequence. At the end, its upper shelf is attached to the rack.
Other ways to store toys
Naturally, far from all parents can always make racks for toys with their own hands or buy them. Sometimes the question is in finances, also the reason may be a small room or lack of time. Therefore, as alternative and simple ways to equip a place for toys, you can bring these:
- arrangement of plastic boxes in the room (sometimes they can be attached to the wall);
- installation of metal hanging baskets;
- mesh constructions from garden shops;
- painted car tires can also be a place to store toys;
- wooden vintage boxes;
- plastic buckets connected to each other by jumpers.
Well, if you and your child want something simpler and less original, and a place in the room allows, it is better to purchase a wardrobe for toys, which fits anything.
There are a lot of ideas about this, but it will be very interesting for the parents themselves to make a rack for children's toys with their own hands, and you can connect the children to the process.