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About Project
How to build laundry basket dressers! Clean up your laundry room with these simple laundry basket dressers made from a single sheet of plywood.
Life is too short to spend hours each day on laundry.
Different Size
Easy to Build
More Photos and Details
Dimensions
Materials and Tools
1 - Sheet 3/4" plywood or MDF
2 - 1x2 @ 8 feet long
2" screws or 1 1/4" pocket hole screws
1 1/4" finish nails
Glue
Paint
4 Laundry Baskets, 16" x 24" (I use the cheapo Sterilite ones but measure and make sure the baskets you buy will fit)
Cut List
3/4" plywood cut as follows and shown in cutting diagram:
Back: 17 1/2" x 48"
Sides (2): 25" x 48"
Top & Bottom (2): 19" x 25"
8 - 1x2 @ 24" (it's okay if they are a tiny bit short to get all the cuts on the same boards)
General Instructions
Please read through the entire plan and all comments before beginning this project. It is also advisable to review the Getting Started Section. Take all necessary precautions to build safely and smartly. Work on a clean level surface, free of imperfections or debris. Always use straight boards. Check for square after each step. Always predrill holes before attaching with screws. Use glue with finish nails for a stronger hold. Wipe excess glue off bare wood for stained projects, as dried glue will not take stain. Be safe, have fun, and ask for help if you need it. Good luck!
Step 1
Okeedok! Here we go.
Just start at one end of the plywood, measure in 17 1/2" and make a straight line and cut.
Then measure in 25", mark a line and cut. Repeat two more times.
From the last 25" strip, cut into two pieces 19" wide for the top and bottom.
Because the saw blade takes up space when cutting, you cannot just mark all cuts and have at it. You must measure, cut, then measure, cut and so on.
If you have a hardware store that will make these cuts for you, by all means, beg and plead. It's much easier to carry the pieces than a full sheet of 3/4".
Step 2
Get the two sides out and determine what side is uglier, and what edge is ugliest. Or shall we say less attractive. Anyway, make a mark down the edge 3/4" as shown in diagram. This will be the backs side.
Do this on both sides.
Step 3
Now mark each side down as shown in the diagram. Make sure you make at least two marks so your cleats go on nice and square. Apply glue to back edge of cleats, and nail down with 1 1/4" nails.
Note that the two sides are done in mirror.
Step 4
Just to illustrate the mirror requirement. If you make two the same ... you'll be making two Laundry Basket Dressers, which might not be a bad thing at all!!
Step 5
Now add the back.
For those of you using a Kreg Jig, just drill pocket holes along all sides, top and bottom of the back, and attach sides with 1 1/4" pocket holes screws. Keep the pocket holes on the back side.
Step 6
And the last step is to just add the tops. This should be pretty easy, just keep your outside edges flush and use glue.
And that's it! How simple is that?
Finishing Instructions
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This is great! I love the
This is great! I love the fact that the laundry is all sorted out and that you can take the "drawers" out easily.
Recycling too
I just might have to build these for my recycling... my town is not on single stream so many bins are needed!
Every time I see these, my
Every time I see these, my thought is "But do they have issues once the baskets are heavy with tons of clothes?" Anybody know?
We made the original basket
We made the original basket dresser with 3 drawers for one of our sons. We have had it about a year, and have had no problems with it! Our boys have moved it around, stuffed it with clothes (and toys!), and even climbed on it some. It has held up really well. We are considering making a few more for the laundry room :)
I would love to know this
I would love to know this too!!!
Should be ok
Using 3/4 inch plywood with a full thickness backing this should be plenty sturdy. If your going to be using it for extremely heavy stuff for some reason you could line the inside of the back edge where it connects to the sides with a full length 1x1 for stability. But that would most likely be way overkill for this sort of project. The MDF wood is PLENTY strong on its own. Make sure any connected point is both glued and nailed/screwed.
Wish I had room to build more
Wish I had room to build more of these! Love the 4 by plans!
I made the orignal one with 3 baskets and have had all three baskets overfilled and stuffed some more full of laundry and have never had any problems.
priorities in order..
Sadly I spent the afternoon pining over these and price-checking the baskets to fit in them and measuring my space to figure out how I can make it work, instead of actually folding the laundry that is currently in baskets all over my family room ;)
These are awesome though - I am motivated to make it work!!
I think we are on the same
I think we are on the same wavelength! :) I'd rather plan ways to organize my home and build cool organizers than actually put the stuff away!
Love this! Question. What do
Love this! Question. What do the B, C and other tags stand for??
I have a system now for clean, dirty, whites, colors. Is it something similar?
Names
The B,C,D,E are the first letter of each of my kids names! We use the laundry dressers for clean laundry. Each person has a basket for their clean clothes and then one for towels and one for sheets. The kids each have an additional basket for their mudroom type items and things they leave strewn about the house. Our laundry room comes in from the garage so it's our mudroom too.
I have three baskets on top of the washer/dryer for dirty laundry.
Women Shoes
Hi
I am further to this forum, so immediately beg an enchanting confusion:)
How scads pairs of shoes do you have?
How much do you accept new shoes?
Amuse especially women to observe on this topic.
Why buy the 1"x2"s? Your
Why buy the 1"x2"s? Your cutting diagram shows a 10"x25" piece of scrap that could be ripped into 8 - 1"x3/4" pieces that would already be the right length! I'm going to be building a few of these after my wife sees your design... ;-)
where are the legs?
Laundry room sounds like a risk for water spillage.
Maybe small legs like 1/4'' will allow for some ventilation down there.
On the other hand the dirt will start getting under the dresser.
What will happen if water gets under those dressers, will it soak and warp the wood?
Answer to your legs question - casters
You can throw some little wheels on the bottom if you want for a bit of a lift, then you could pull the laundry dressers out to sweep. I believe the original plans did have wheels. I made it without, b/c I don't need it to roll, but I believe a lot of people did add them and it's fantastic.
what kind of plywood did you
what kind of plywood did you use?
Wood
I used AC Plywood. If you were worried about water spillage then you could put the dressers on wheels. We had a dresser in that spot before and it was always really dusty underneath and the kids would lose things and we'd have to move the whole dresser so we just set the dressers on the ground.
Love these but we aren't handy
I wish you could buy these already made!
Oh my!! This must be what
Oh my!! This must be what heaven looks like!!!
Dimesions are wrong.
my own fault for not double checking, but the dimesions used in the drawings are for a SEVENTEEN by 24 basket, not a 16 x 24... learned this the hardway after adding 1 inch to the back and tops to fit my 17 inch basket. only afterwards when it doesnt fit did i bother actually thinking about the math...
just a heads up
on a side note... first time using a circular saw and a kreg jig,. and everything worked and went together awesomely!
luckily the too big dresser will be easy to fix with another set of 1x2's, which i already have because i bought the material to make 2 of them!
Oh no!!
I used the Sterilite 1.5 Bushel baskets and they are 17" at the widest point. Laundry baskets are hard to measure since they curve outward towards the middle. So glad you got the plan to work for your basket.
This could make a great toy sorter as well.
Sometimes storage for toys costs a small fortune. This is a great way to do that, rather then putting name tags on the front you could put pictures of the toys that belong in that bin to help your kids learn to clean up after themselves.
Can you paint the boards
Can you paint the boards before you screw them together?
Yes!
I painted all the wood when it was flat and then just did touch ups when it was all built. So much easier to paint flat lumber with a roller.
i am so glad to read that
i am so glad to read that this is for 17 inch baskets, because my husband cut all the pieces and i hadn't checked our baskets yet!! ours are the sterlite baskets from target, and the tag says they are 17 1/4". phew.
This is straight out of my dreams!
I'm obsessed with laundry baskets! I use them for everything. I've even gone so far as to buy the really nice, heavy duty ones. And they must match! I've been saying for years now that I need to build some sort of "dresser" for them. And here it is! Can't wait to get started! Thank you!
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