Solutions for Household Storage

Image Gallery

MOTHER'S WOODSHOP

BED BOX PLANS AND BIKE RACK PLANS © 1996 DAVID MUKAMAL CAMP

As my little house gets fuller and fuller with the trappings of life, I find myself searching for unfulfilled crannies to store things in. Lately I've had my eye on that space under the bed; perhaps it can hide more than stray socks and unappreciated cat toys. And I've been wondering about all those bikes in the garage; is there a way they can take up less floor space? I've seen clever ideas for storage solutions in a number of mail-order catalogs, but none really met my specific needs. Drawing from these sources of inspiration, I decided to build my own "under the bed boxes" to hold sweaters, winter items, etc., and a stackable bike rack that mounts like a pole lamp to free up some space in the garage.

Making the Bed Boxes

These boxes work like big drawers under the bed, but because of the wheels on the sides, you don't have to make a cabinet for them. The lid keeps out dust. Rather than pulling forward, the lid slides to the back, making it easy to access the contents.

I designed the boxes to hold eight sweaters apiece, and chose to build them out of aromatic cedar for both the smell it imparts to the clothing and its rumored moth deterrence. Four of these boxes fit nicely under my queen-size bed.

Aromatic cedar trees don't grow very large, so most of the boards are less than 3 1/2" wide. They have a plethora of knots and a wildly irregular grain; therefore, when buying this wood, figure in a generous allowance for waste. To make four of these boxes, get at least 36 board feet of rough lumber, two sheets of 1/4 " melamine for the lids and bottoms, four pulls of your choice and 16 wheels (see the source list at right).

Rough cut the stock 2 inches longer than the finished dimensions for the sides (A) and ends (B and C), and mill it to Y'' thickness (photo 1). Joint an edge of each piece as shown in photo 2, then rip it parallel on the table saw before jointing its other edge. Sharp jointer knives, a shallow cut and slow feed rate will all help minimize grain tear-out, but you have to accept the fact that chunks will break out anyway. It's best to adopt the attitude that defects add to the character of the cedar, and simply orient all the worst sides in the same direction when you glue up the panels-and put those on the inside of the box.

I put together panels of 30"-long boards for the sides and 25" boards for the ends, gluing planks together two at a time and then gluing pairs together, and so on until I had enough width to cut the individual pieces. When dry, flatten the panels as needed with the belt sander. Next, rip the box sides and ends to the size indicated in the cutting list, plus 1/32" to clean up on the jointer. Now trim the best end of each and cut them to length.

Grooves and Rabbets

The lids and bottoms (D) both slide past the backs (C) in grooves cut in the sides (A) and fronts (B) as shown in the plans. Install dado blades in your table saw to cut a groove wide enough to accept the melamine. Set the depth of cut at 3/8" and position the fence 1/2" from the outside of the blades.