I think books are truly one of the best baby shower gifts. Don’t get me wrong, new parents are for sure going to need that diaper pail, but add a book as a gift as well and you’ve got a sweet personal touch.
Is dad really into space? Throw in a cute planets book. You’re an out-of-state relative? Feel closer to the new baby by gifting a fun children’s book about your area.
Luckily for us, Eleanor got a lot of books when she was born. We have some IKEA bookshelves mounted on the wall in the nursery but still had a huge overflow we needed to store somehow. While I was on maternity leave and feeling like I needed to do something creative or I might just die in the neverending eat-sleep-changepoopydiaper cycle, I came up with this quick, cute DIY kids book storage bin in my head and brought it to life during a week’s worth of nap time.
I went with a boho hand painted rainbow design to match the rest of baby girl’s room, but the best part is you could customize it however you like with different colors or patterns. You could even add some fun wallpaper to the insides, the options are endless!
On This Page
Tools & Materials
Coffee table legs (I used some 9-inch legs I found at a thrift store for $10 for the set but here are some similar ones)
Paint – again, I used stuff I had on hand, but used Aesthetic White as the base color, then a few sample pots of pink paints (I don’t remember the color names, sorry!)
1.5-inch screws
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, meaning we may get a commission if you make a purchase through one of our links, at no additional cost to you.
First, make your cuts
To make it easier (and cheaper) I used one piece of plywood and made all my cuts from that.
Here’s a guide for the measurements and how to cut them to maximize space on your plywood piece:
Then sand all of the pieces really well and you’re ready to paint.
Pre-paint (depending on your design)
I pre-painted all my inside pieces because I knew I wanted the rainbows on the inside panels and didn’t want to endure the hand cramps of trying to do it while it was in cube form.
I did a couple coats of the white paint over the tops, bottoms and sides of each piece, then once that dried I set aside the front and back piece, the two side pieces, and the two dividers. I didn’t initially paint the outside white because I knew I would be adding wood filler over the seams and screws then sanding them down, so at this point only the inside-facing pieces were painted.
One note here: If you’re like me and want to do the design on the insides of the cubes, you’re going to do it on one side of each of the long pieces, one side of each of the two side pieces, and both sides of the other two divider pieces.
Fall into a pit of despair because your rainbows look like a dumpster fire
The boho rainbow theme in the nursery was an accident based on an Etsy printable I got and kept designing the room from. But, once I was in, I was all in and loved it, so I knew that would be the design for this book storage bin.
To do these little freehand rainbows, I used three pink paint samples and tiny craft brushes. I literally just drew a semi-circle with one color, and added another one until it looked right. I alternated the color order I used and did some semi-circles in dots using the other pointy end of the paintbrush.
It looked so bad to begin with and I was like oh lawwwdddd I cannot show this to anyone ever. It’s so bad and I should relatedly feel bad. I kept going anyway because what else did I have to do? And it took about five rainbows before it started to look deliberately imperfect and have the overall vibe I was going for.
Assemble it all
Once your rainbow design (or whatever design/paint you’re going with) is dried, you can start to put it all together.
At this point, if you’ve got a Kreg Jig and the ability to do pocket holes, run wild friend and do that. At the time I did this project I didn’t have a Kreg Jig yet, so I just screwed everything in the old fashioned way.
Here’s a quick mock up of how the DIY kids book storage bin all goes together:
Lay your bottom piece down flat and hold the two side pieces on either end butting up against that bottom piece. Put some wood glue along the seam where the two pieces connect and screw them in place from the outside of the smaller side piece into the bottom piece.
Put your long front and back pieces in their place so they sit between the two short side pieces and on top of the long bottom piece. Again, use wood glue and throw in a couple of screws from the underside of that bottom piece and into the long plywood pieces.
Next, add some wood filler to all the visible outer seams, which will be along the bottom at the front and back, and over all the screw holes. Once that’s dried, give it a quick sand and paint the outside pieces.
The real test of your skills
By now, you’ve got a painted box, and you’ll be adding in your dividers. I ended up needing to shave one of them down because my measurement wasn’t quite right, so it’ll be a test of your sawing ability!
There’s an 11-inch gap for each section, but you’ve got to account for the 0.75-inch thickness of each of the plywood pieces.
So, starting from the left side of the box, measure 11 inches from the inside edge of the outside panel in toward the middle of the box and make a small mark in pencil. Slide in your divider piece, making sure you’re keeping that 11-inch space.
Do the same from the right side of the box, and you’ve got your two dividers that are making three sections.
Add your legs
The type of legs you buy will determine how they’re installed, but I just lined mine up on the corners and used wood glue then screws from the inside of the box down into the legs.
Give it a few coats of sealant and you’re done
You know there will be some grubby little hands grabbing for books to read and scuffing up your handiwork, so give the whole thing a couple of coats of polycrylic which will make it easier to wipe clean.
Then you’re done! It’s such a cute little piece for a kids’ room, nursery or playroom and can be customized in so many ways. Plus, it can fit lotssss of books for your little reader!
If you’re looking for a way to use up your leftover plywood from your DIY kids book storage bin, try this scrap wood boot tray.
Stay up-to-date on our of our latest DIY projects by signing up for our weekly newsletter.
Affiliate Disclaimer
This post contains affiliate links, meaning we may get a commission if you make a purchase through one of our links, at no additional cost to you.