The girls were away this past week at Grandma’s, so I took advantage of the opportunity and did what any Mother would do…
I cleaned their rooms!
Deep clean.
Windows, drawers, cabinets, toybox, under the bed and I even managed to clean out their closets for clothes that are too small. I pulled a full black garbage bag of junk out of their rooms – turns out my children are hoarders.
I know they’re going to go nuts when they come home and can’t find whatever wrapper or bit of paper they’re looking for, so I also decided to distract and appease.
I figured they can’t really yell at me if I have a super-cool new storage rack for all of their Littlest Pet Shop toys right? (fingers crossed)
I adapted this rack from others I’d seen done for matchbox cars. The cars themselves are much shorter and narrower than the LPS figurines, so I had to make my own measurements – but you can adapt these plans to fit whatever space you’re looking to organize as well.
Chloe has a narrow section of wall by her closet, so I wanted her shelf to fit that space. Madison’s shelf will go above her desk, so I needed something wider. Both sets of measurements are below.
Chloe’s shelf (narrow, but taller) 26 3/4 wide, 29 3/4″ tall, shelf spacing at 3″
I used 3/4″ MDF (medium density fibreboard) for my project because that’s what I had lying around… but it’s heavy when put together. If you want a lighter piece, I’d suggest using 1x3s.
Cuts:
Top and bottom (2) – 3/4″ wood cut at 26 3/4″
Sides (2) – 3/4″ wood cut at 28.5″
Shelves (7) 3/4″ wood cut at 25.5″
I started by building the frame of the shelving – top and bottom go on top of the sides.
I used 1 1/4″ wood screws to hold in place, but you could use a Kreg Jig if you don’t want to see screw holes in your finished shelf.
PLEASE PRE-DRILL BEFORE GLUING AND SCREWING TOGETHER! (I know this because I split more than a few boards by trying to shortcut)
Then glue your shelves into place at 3″, 6 3/4″, 10 1/2″, 14 1/4″, 18″, 21″ and 24 3/4″.
Pre-drill your screw holes and screw into place with 1 1/4″ wood screws. Check for square and level before drilling.
Above is Maddie’s shelf – much longer at 41 1/2″ long but shorter at 22 1/2″ tall.
If you decide to build this version, you will want a few extra pieces of wood/mdf spaced throughout to keep the shelves from sagging.
Cuts:
Top and bottom (2) – 3/4″ wood cut at 41 1/2″”
Sides (2) – 3/4″ wood cut at 21″
Shelves (5) 3/4″ wood cut at 40 1/2″
Shelf spacing is the same – 3″ gap between shelves. Glue, pre-drill and screw into place.
A couple of coats of paint:
and voila!
Because the MDF was so heavy on these, I used 3″ L-brackets screwed into studs to hold them in place.
This is Chloe’s:
She took a lot of her Littlest Pet Shop collection to Grandma’s with her, so I’m sure this will be filled when she gets home tonight.
This is Madison’s storage rack:
Pretty cute right?
Do you think they’ll forgive me for over-hauling their rooms?
I’m feeling pretty confident they won’t even notice once they see these!
Have a great one!
Linked to:
- Anderson & Grant
- Between Naps on the Porch Naps on the Porch
Genius at work! (How long do you think the shelves will stay that tidy? *L*)
So far, they’ve been tidy for a week – which is about 6 days longer than anything else in their room stayed clean. They get a kick out of seeing all of their toys on display, so it’s much less of a battle than getting them to tidy stuff into boxes or baskets.
Thank you for commenting!
[…] like most kids, also wanted to be able to display her collection, and the shelf I built her a while back was no longer sufficient. Again, she measured out her shelves and she and Hubby went […]
Thank you! Just built ours! Used pre primed pine. Painted turquoise. Looks awesone!!
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