When friends come over to play with Shachar and a suspicious yet pleasing quiet spreads around the house, I know that if I’ll go upstairs I will find (other than a mess) kids dressed up in costumes and deep in imaginary worlds and adventures.
So, just before Pruim, when the costumes are already waiting and the kids are anticipating I decided to give you an excellent and simple idea how to create a special corner for them where they could dress up in costumes all year long. Instead of pushing this year’s costumes (together with what is left of the previous years’ costumes) deep into a closet and fifty different drawers, why don’t you build a compact wooden cupboard in which you may store all of those colorful and joyful mess and leave the costumes easily accessible; easy to dress up and easy to organize.
Just like I wrote he about displaying adults’ collections, don’t forget that usually high-quality costumes, princesses’ tiaras, knights’ swords, capes and other glamorous accessories are some of the dearest collections for children’s hearts, and they too want to be surrounded by the objects which make them happy.
So let us start:
In order to build the cupboard relatively easy at home, painting it and giving it your own personal finishing touch, you firstly need to go to a close woodshop and order the following parts, including one plywood board (122*244*1.6cm) and a wooden broom stick (which needs to be shorten).
(How to cut the board, in centimeters)
Additional Tools and Materials:
- An electric screwdriver and a drill.
- Wood glue.
- 4mm screws.
- Painters’ putty (a smooth creamy filling substance).
- A spatula (the type used for building, not cooking).
- Sandpaper.
- A water-based paint for wood, and a wide painting brush.
- A plastic sheet on which you could work without sullying the house.
- Accessories for the cupboard: 4 wheels, a mirror (26*100cm), several hooks for hanging and baskets for the shelves.
How to Build:
1. Spread the parts on the plastic sheet and paint them on one side. After they dry up (usually takes less than an hour), paint a second layer on the same side, only the broom’s stick (H), the shelves (F and G) and one of the ‘A’ boards should be painted on both sides.
The reason for this is that we painted the inner parts which would be harder to paint later. The rest of the parts will be painted on both sides at the end, after we cover the screws with the putty.
2. The construction part isn’t overly complex so don’t let it scare you, use the blueprint.
In order to build it nicely without the wood splitting you should first drill a “leading hole” with a 3mm drill and use 4mm screws. Before the screwing, you should spread wood glue along the overlapping parts of the wood in order to strengthen the wood, and screw the screws so that they will be sunk a bit into the wood so that you will be able to cover them later.
a. Take a ‘B’ board as the base and drill a centimeter away from the corners a “leading hole”. Put the board vertical to the floor and station the three ‘A’ boards in their places (according to the blueprint), with the painted side facing in. After applying the glue, screw the screws from the outer side of the base into the ‘A’ boards.
b. Connect two additional ‘B’ parts to the sides of the base in order to create an open box shape at the base of the cupboard.
c. In order to create a bin for the swords and other long objects I added the boards marked with ‘C’ above the smaller box in order to create a taller open box on one side and a shorter but wider box on the other.
d. Create the shelves before connecting them, by using the ‘F’ board as a base on which the ‘D’ parts are connected for the long shelf and using the ‘G’ board and the ‘E’ parts for the shorter one.
e. Connect the shelves 20cm under the arch (the arch is 15cm tall and the depth of the shelves is 4.6cm) by screwing the crews from the outer side of the cupboard into the base of the shelves.
f. Connect the hanging stick (the painted broom stick) 5cm under the shelf.
3. Cover the sunken screws and joints by applying filling putty with the spatula. After the putty dries up, use the sandglass in order to gently make the surfaces smooth.
4. Now that everything is correctly connected, finish the painting.
5. Connect the wheels to the base of the box. I recommend using silicon wheels, especially if the room is covered with parquet.
6. Fix the hanging hooks, preferably on the inner side of the side walls.
7. The last, but most enjoyable part is the decorating part. This is the place to carry away. Beginning with the color of the paint you chose and continuing with whatever decoration you so choose.
A tip – If you don’t want to see the various objects all the time, you can add a curtain to the upper shelf. This way you will also create an excellent setting for a puppet show!
Also, don’t forget to hang the mirror on one of the outer side walls, because anyone wants to see himself dressed up in costumes.
After understanding the general idea, feel free to add the right twist for you own little kid. Shachar’s large sword collection (after all he does have two older brothers who passed a lot of toys and costumes to him) was the reason for the bin on the right side of the cupboard. Your own daughter might have a lot of jewels and little accessories which might require additional shelves and baskets, or a large collection of scarves which will require additional hanging hooks.
Now all that is left is to enjoy your work! 🙂
Happy and blurry, jumping out of my frame – huge thanks to Shachar, May and Romi for their joy and patience.
Special thanks to my husband, who helps making all of my fantasies into a reality with his golden hands.
