Toybox for my Grand Daughter

I made this toybox for my grand daughter’s first birthday. Nothing amazing about the design but it will hide most of her toys.

I used Red Oak for the project. My son and daughter in law wanted it stained dark to match what was in the room already and I noticed a heavy grain pattern in so I went with Oak.

I used Miller Dowels for the box joinery keeping the Birch dowels their natural colour. I built a tray for smaller toys and books which rides on two rails so it can slide to either the left or right hand side.

The lid is fairly heavy and solid so I ordered two of the 60 in-lbs Torsion Hinges from Rockler. I had to go back and order a third one as the top came down with a bang and I would hate to get a call some day telling me she had her fingers caught in the lid. I had a lot of options but I wanted to stay with the hinges even though the last one I ordered cost quite a bit once I had it shipped to Canada. Worth it in the long run….

For stain, I used Minwax Jacobean, a really nice dark stain to match existing furniture. Three coats of water based poly finished it off rather nicely.

My scrollsaw packed it in recently so I had to go to a local craft store and buy the lettering and the hearts. I won’t tell her if you don’t :o)

(sorry about the messy room, I’ll try to get it cleaned up)

Hope you like and thanks for looking. Comments and opinions are always welcomed.

-- -- Don in Ottawa, http://www.donebydon.ca