{recycled} crib drawer

As I sat on my sons floor taking the crib apart the other day I had an idea. They needed some more toy storage and sitting in front of me was this huge drawer from the bottom of the crib. The boys have identical beds except that one already has built in drawers underneath. The other one would be empty underneath. Some simple casters and a coat of paint would make it a functional toy bin that would roll out of sight. 

I had 4 small pieces of wood cut 4 inches square. I held these underneath the drawer in each corner and screwed them on from the inside, 4 screws each. The bottom of the drawer is very thin so I need these to be able to screw the casters into.

At this point the plans changed. After doing some research on painting press board, I decided against it. This is a drawer that is going to be rolled around and roughed up. After a month it would have looked pretty beat up. I could have left it the way it was but I had some leftover fabric from the pelmet boxes and as you already know, I love fabric. I got out my upholstery stapler and started cutting, folding and stapling. I cut separate strips that would cover each side of the drawer with enough extra on the top and bottom to staple, about 4 extra inches total. I attached the fabric before the casters so that I wouldn't be dealing with a rolling object at the same time as a staple gun. Not a pretty image.

When all the fabric was on it was time to screw on the casters. I had found some small ones that rotated at my hardware store. I turned the drawer over and screwed these into the pieces of wood.

That was it. My trusty helpers had it filled up with toys before I had all my tools put away. The drawer fits perfectly under the bed and rolls in and out very smoothly. It came out better that I expected and my nine year old even congratulated me for recycling.






Is your crib headed for retirement? Do you need more storage? With the right fabric or paint job it can even go under a larger bed to hold shoes, sheets, towels, extra pillows. How about putting it under your sofa in the playroom. I could go on and on. What could you use it for?