Storage Unit Tutorial - Part 1

I have had such a marvelous response to the Storage Unit I made and was asked to make a tutorial for it.  Before I begin, I want to thank Annette Bogle for her foam board project and tutorial that started me on the journey to build my own.  I really did not have a place for an embellishment unit, so I watched a lot of youtube videos to see what everyone was doing.  I found Annette's inspiration from Luane Kash and went on to find my tower inspiration from TitiDesignsNYC but there was no tutorial with it so I used her verbal and visual clues in her video to design mine.

NOTE:  My measurements for this storage unit should be viewed as suggestions.  Please adjust them to be more useful to your storage needs. 

Supplies Needed:
 4 sheets of foam board (30 inches x 20 inches)
Craft knife
Ruler
Hot glue gun and glue sticks 
Adhesive backed paper packaging tape (I bought mind online at Staples)
      Or construction strips 2 inches wide with 1 inch score line using  score tape or wet glue to adhere
1 lazy susan to use as a turn table

Bases:  Cut 3 pieces of foam board 9 inches by 30 inches

   

        

        Section 1:  (A)   Cut 2 pieces of foam board   3 inches by  30 
                                   inches   (sides)

                                       (B)   Cut 2 pieces of foam board   3 inches by 8.5 
                                   inches   (top and bottom)

 
 NOTE:  Some of the following pictures are different sizes than the pattern states, so do not
worry that it looks the wrong size...it probably is.  I am making another unit and took pictures
while I was making it to show what each step looks like.

Hot glue long piece (A) to one base piece, lining it up to the edge of the base.    Cut a piece of packaging tape the length of the foam board (about 30 inches long), then cut it in half lengthwise and fold each piece in half.          

                          

 Attach the tape to the inside and outside of the foam board and base for support.  Repeat this on the other side of the base piece.

 

  

 

After long sides are secure, take the short piece of foam board (B) and run hot glue on both short edges and one long edge and adhere to base piece between the long pieces of foam board already attached making sure to be even to the edge of the base.  Repeat the process of attaching packaging tape.

Attach the other small piece of foam board (B) to the other end of the base with hot glue and packaging tape.  When all four sides of this section is complete, cut 4 pieces of packaging tape 3 inches or so long, cut each piece in half and adhere to the corner edges, inside and out to secure the corners. 

         This completes the outside of the box for Section 1.

To complete the inside of the box, measure the height needed for your stamp pads, making sure to give enough room be able to pull the pads off of the shelf.  I used  1 inch.  

Cut a strip from the foam board 2.75 inches wide, then cut that strip into 1 inch widths.  After cutting this strip down, repeat this process until you have completed the number of shelves you want in your section.

I left room at the top and bottom for drawers, so if you do this, you will need 2 pieces of foam board 2.75 inches by 3 inches for each drawer space.

For the shelves, I cut a strip of foam board 8.5 inches wide (confirm this width by measuring the inside width of your box.)  Then cut this strip into 3 inch widths.

To construct shelves: 

Place hot glue on one flat side of the  1 x 2.75 foam board piece then put glue side to the inside wall of the box, repeat on other side.

Note:  These foam board pieces need to be fairly level when the shelf is placed on them, so be consistent.  

Next place one shelf piece across the glued in foam pieces…you will NOT be gluing in the shelf unless you want to.  Repeat, building up the shelves on the inside of the box until you reach the top or leave room for a drawer.  If you place a drawer at the top, be sure to glue down the last shelf so it won’t  keep falling off.  Section 1 is complete, decorate with paper.
I hope these pictures help you understand what my instructions mean.  If you have any questions on this part, please leave a comment with a way to contact you and I will try to answer any question.  If someone has a better way to describe the process, please do. 

Thank you  for stopping by.  I will try to get Part 2 finished soon.