How to make a chest with your own hands: drawings, materials, instructions

by Alexey | Crafts Decor Workshop Furniture Accessories | Thursday, August 17, 2017

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Wooden chest

Before making the chest with our own hands, we stocked up on wooden boards that were perfectly dry and ready for processing. This way the product will not crack over the years, and will delight us with its functionality for a long time.

We will also need:

• electric jigsaw and screwdriver;
• tape measure, pencil and hacksaw;
• screws;
• wood glue and a gun for it;
• clamps;
• sandpaper, masking tape and brush;
• paint and varnish;
• glue "Moment".

Be sure to make a detailed drawing of all the details on paper. We cut out the patterns and transfer them to the boards. Using a jigsaw, we carefully cut out all the parts, numbering them on the inside for ease of assembly. Sand them using medium-grit sandpaper.

We make tongues and grooves for all parts, strictly adhering to the dimensions. Having adjusted all the parts, we begin assembling the side walls. Fix with glue and clamps.

Using the same principle, we assemble the front and back walls. We will make the bottom from a sheet of plywood. When the side, front and back walls are dry, put them together and attach the bottom.

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For the lid, cut out a semicircle from the board. Afterwards, to decorate this part, we nail the slats. We connect the lid and the box with overhead hinges.

We can leave such a chest in its original form, or we can decorate it “antique” with our own hands. To do this, we use stain, aged fittings and overhead corners.

Types of materials for creating a wooden chest

Wooden chests can be made from different types of raw materials:

1. Plywood. Sheets of plywood are sold at any hardware store, are inexpensive, and you can choose any thickness. Plywood is easy to work with and retains its shape well. But products made from plywood alone look cheap and boring.
2. Furniture panels made of solid wood of different types of wood. Expensive and noble material. They are very strong and allow you to create durable and reliable structures. However, they require some carpentry knowledge, are more difficult to find in stores, and are also very heavy.
3. Furniture board. Cheaper material compared to shields. It’s easier to work with boards; even a beginner can handle them; they’re easier to cut into parts of the required size. Buying them in stores is not as easy as plywood.
4. Furniture board + plywood. By combining these materials in one product, you can achieve excellent results and get a reliable, strong chest that has a beautiful and noble appearance.

Where to start

It’s worth saying right away that making a wooden chest with your own hands will be quite difficult, especially if you want it to look beautiful. But if you know how to make a chest and put in some effort, then you will definitely succeed.

In order to start work, you will need quite a lot of tools, since making chests is a rather labor-intensive process, here you need not only to process the external surfaces, but also to make grooves at the ends, in addition, you will also need clamps with clamps to assemble parts and the entire chest at the end.

The most important thing is to take your time, and before gluing the pieces together, try laying them dry first without glue and see how they stick.

Thinking through the design

First of all, you need to decide on the sizes. If you make a chest for yourself, then the dimensions are determined based on the place where you plan to put it and what will be stored in it. For example, if it is too bulky, it will look bad in a small room and interfere with movement around the room, and a small one may be inconvenient for storage.

We make a drawing on a computer in any design program: Compass, AutoCad, Solidworks, etc. and print the parts in full size. If there is no experience in working with such programs, then we draw on paper, also in real size. Or take the drawing posted here.

Expanded polystyrene chest

Another option for making a spectacular and easy-to-assemble chest.

We will need:

• expanded polystyrene sheet;
• stationery knife;
• a simple pencil and ruler;
• silicone glue;
• screwdriver;
• paints and brushes.

We draw a drawing of all the parts with dimensions. The cover of the product will consist of five parts - 4 sides and a top. Using a screwdriver, we make stripes on the surface of the walls - imitating the texture of wood.

We paint the parts with black paint on the inside and brown on the outside.

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After the paint has dried, glue the parts together with silicone glue. A gluing diagram and photographs of such a handmade chest can easily be found on the Internet.

We decorate our chest to our liking. From the same polystyrene foam you can cut out a skull and bones, “precious” stones, and a castle. Let's color the details and glue them onto the craft.

As you can see, making a functional, original and beautiful chest is not very difficult.

And if you use your imagination and use applied parts, rhinestones, pieces of laminate, textured wallpaper in decorating your craft, then even a paper decorative element will be indistinguishable from a wooden one.

Let's sum it up

Most chest designs can be made at home without outside help, with the most common carpentry tools and materials on hand. Despite the fact that chests are considered by many to be outdated furniture, such products will look harmonious in any part of the apartment or will be useful as unusual gifts for loved ones.

Bedside ottomans are universal - they can serve as a nightstand, a bedside shelf, or be used as a footrest, for storing things or bed linen. How to make such an ottoman yourself? More details in a special article.

Cardboard chest

You can make a chest yourself from a material such as a cardboard box.

We will need:

• cardboard box;
• a sheet of thick cardboard and plain paper;
• scissors, PVA glue and pencil;
• masking tape;
• paints and brushes;
• stationery knife and compass;
• braid for decoration;
• sponge.

First, we will cut out the lid of our future chest from the top of the box. To do this, use a compass to draw semicircles on the smaller sides. Using a pencil, draw a surrounding line. Carefully cut out with a stationery knife.

Cut out the top of the lid from a sheet of thick cardboard and glue it to the box with PVA glue. We tape all corners and joints with masking tape. We decorate the chest with braid around the perimeter.

We will cover the product with black paint. After it dries, apply gold paint to the sponge and blot the protruding parts of the decor.

If we additionally glue a box made of a sheet of red or golden cardboard inside the box, this will strengthen our design.

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You can make such a chest yourself both to store small items at home and to store money for a wedding celebration. To do this, you need to paint the cardboard blank white and decorate it with ribbons and lace.

What could be the shape of the chest?

And the shape, first of all, depends on the lid, because the lower part is always the same and is, in fact, a spacious rectangular box. Historically, there have been three types of caps. Let's look at the features of each of them.

Trunk

First type. Semi-cylindrical cover

It was very common among the rich segments of the population, while peasants preferred a flat lid, which allowed the chest (or rather, box) to be used, including as furniture. The rich people attached an important role to the aesthetic function.

Chest with semi-cylindrical lid and padlock

On a note! The chests of wealthy people were decorated with precious stones and carvings, and the inside was lined with expensive fabrics or leather. As a rule, there were entire paintings on the sides, and the lid was often equipped with an additional (mostly secret) compartment in which especially valuable things were stored.

From the history of the chest

Second type. Chest-teremok

The structure received this name due to the superstructure that was built over rich houses; it was called the tower. Such chests had 2 separate tiers, one of them - the smaller one - was at the top and was used for jewelry.

Chest-teremok, upholstered in wrought iron

Consequently, such a chest had 2 lids at once, while it itself looked like a square box with a high hipped “roof”. Each of the lids was decorated with picturesque paintings (both inside and outside), so that the rich could continuously enjoy the beauty of fine art while sorting through household items.

Chest-teremok

Third type. Headrest chest

Another name for the design is a headrest. This is a small box with a beveled top lid, which, in turn, consists of two planes (see photo below). Such a strange design is explained by the fact that such a chest was convenient to store under the head while moving (to protect things from thieves while sleeping). Hence, in fact, the name.

17th century headrest chest

Tools for work

Depending on the selected idea and materials, you will need to prepare tools to apply the technology for processing them yourself.

The standard set is a stationery knife and scissors, glue with good adhesive properties, additional accessories and paints and varnishes.

Decorative chests: practical applications

There are many options on how to make a trap chest, or a large chest for children's toys, a woodpile in the form of a chest and a jewelry chest.

Capacious and compact products are decorated in accordance with the chosen style and for this you can use modern decorative materials.

Presentable appearance and practical spaciousness, proper organization of internal space helps to use all the capabilities of such products.

For holiday greetings, you can make a small and attractive money chest, which will be perfectly complemented by a bouquet of flowers and a greeting card.

How to make a chest with your own hands: choice of material and manufacturing methods

“How to make a chest with your own hands” is a relevant question for those who want to add an unusual twist to their interior.
A chest is an ancient interior element that has recently begun to be used instead of typical chests of drawers and cabinets for storing things. Accordingly, it is both functional and decorative furniture. You can buy ready-made chests made by professional craftsmen, but they usually have a fairly impressive price, and they are not easy to find. That is why we recommend trying to make your own products, because this is not only a great opportunity to get a functional item, but also a way to realize your creative skills.

How to make a chest with your own hands

A Brief History of the Chest

Many people associate a wooden floor chest with travel, adventure and treasure. It hid a wide variety of secrets. Surprisingly, such an important thing did not first appear in Rus'.

Ancient Egypt is considered the birthplace of this item. It was used everywhere in any room and a variety of things were stored in it: from weapons to kitchen utensils. Also in the East, chests were used instead of ottomans for lying down during moments of rest. They were necessarily decorated with pillows and bedspreads. In Italy, caskets were lavishly decorated with elegant forging. Only wealthy people could afford large items, while the poor were content with simple chests of modest size.

Each country brought its own national flavor to the creation of floor chests. During the Gothic period, they began to actively produce products with legs. And during the Renaissance, a back and an armrest were added to them. In those days, such items were usually made of wood, and strong locks served as protection against theft. Russian and Ukrainian products were distinguished by beautiful hand carvings, oriental ones - by oriental patterns.

Below in the photo is a floor chest made of wood:

The manufacture of this unusual furniture took several years, and several craftsmen were involved: a carpenter, a blacksmith, a mechanic, and a painter. The end result became the main peasant furniture. Over many years of history, floor chests changed their external shapes and turned into new objects. So in the 17th century, this type of furniture underwent serious modifications. Legs were attached to it and drawers were installed, and so the prototype of a modern chest of drawers appeared.

Nowadays, wooden floor chests organically blend into the interior of any room, since an extra storage system is useful everywhere. Large models hold clothes, fabrics, linen, blankets, shoes, pillows and towels. They save space in the house.

In addition, a weighty casket will become a reliable repository of memories dear to your heart - family photo albums, children's notebooks with cute handwriting, postcards from loved ones, various symbolic things that you should never part with.

Flat lid chest with photo

The most convenient chest with a flat lid, it allows you to place various objects on top (lamps, vases), put books, or just sit with a pillow. The convex lid limits the options for its use and is more difficult to integrate into the interior. Therefore, here we consider the option of making a flat and reliable lid that can easily withstand the weight of an adult.

Chest for children's room

Now we will make a chest not from wood, but from plywood, decorating it with pirate attributes with our own hands.

We will need:

• two sheets of plywood 1.5 cm thick;
• electric jigsaw or hacksaw;
• tape measure and pencil;
• sandpaper;
• furniture fittings;
• shock absorbers for the cover;
• stencils and paints.

It is much simpler to assemble than the previous version. We cut out the walls, bottom and lid of the required size from plywood. Be sure to sand the ends so that there are no splinters.

We fasten the box and the bottom with self-tapping screws, and attach the lid to hinges with shock absorbers in order to protect children's hands. In order to round the corners we use special pads.

To make our chest “pirate”, we draw a skull and crossbones, a ship on it with our own hands and cover the box with leather fasteners (we made them for dad’s trouser belts too).

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Useful tips

When choosing a chest model that you plan to make with your own hands, you need to pay attention to the option that will fit perfectly with the interior of the house.

Expert advice:

1. For a retro style, a restored element that has no cracks or abrasions is perfect.
2. Vintage style, on the contrary, requires a worn product with chips and scratches.
3. To prevent the design from being too conspicuous, the room needs to be supplemented with objects that will match the style of the chest (lamp, paintings).
4. If the room is designed strictly in white colors, and the structure is of some other shade, then it can be repainted in the color you need.

When creating a wooden craft, its final processing is very important. This includes sanding, tinting and varnishing. If there are still cracks on the surface of the product, they must be hidden using putty intended for wood.

Homemade decorative chests are usually placed in the bedroom, living room and children's room.

In the bedroom, the product can be installed near the bed, placing linen, towels, a blanket with pillows or jewelry there.

In the recreation area, the structure can be used as a coffee table, on which you can place a vase of flowers, a book or a newspaper.

In addition, such a decorative element can be placed in the bathroom, and jars of cream, shampoos, cosmetics and much more can be stored in it.