Step 1 - Measure and cut the boards

First, you will need to measure and cut all of your boards. A miter saw will make quick work of this step, but a hand saw will work fine as well, since the cuts aren’t that complicated and there aren’t that many of them. Personally, after I cut one board I like to use that piece as a guide to cut the next piece so that I know they are even.

All measurements are available here - toolbox template.

Step 2 - Sand boards

Next, you will want to sand all of the boards. Since we are using these in the children’s bedrooms we wanted to make sure that the edges were rounded and safe to handle. We used an orbital sander with 80 grit paper, but sandpaper by itself (or glued to a piece of wood) will work as well.

Step 3 - Measure and cut hole for handle

The hole for the handle is a little tricky if your mitered angles aren’t perfect aligned (mine weren’t). Follow the template for the positioning of the hole and then proceed to drill the hole with a 1-inch paddle drill bit. After drilling the first hole, line up the two boards so that all edges are aligned. If they aren’t aligned, simply flip one board over. Then, proceed to clamping the boards together with an extra piece of wood underneath so that you can easily drill the next hole in the correct position. A drill press would have made this step even easier, but unfortunately we don’t have room for that in our garage…yet.

Step 4 - Paint and assemble the box

We used latex paint since we had it in the closet, but you can also use acrylic paint. Once you’ve painted all of the boards and they have dried, it’s time to assemble the box. We found that it was easiest to assemble the box with clamps and get it all aligned so that everything remained square. Starting with the bottom, we drilled pilot holes and screwed 4 (1 5/8”) trim screws securing the sides. Make sure to set your screws on the bottom away from the edge so that when you screw in the sides your screws won’t hit one another.

Step 5 - Cutting & staining the handle

In order to get a snug fit for the handle, we placed the full dowel through the toolbox and then cut the excess length with a flush cut saw. If the dowel does not fit you may need to use a small piece of sandpaper to remove some dried paint or make the whole slightly larger. We used painters tape to protect the side from getting scratched by the saw. This worked like a charm and produced a perfectly flush handle. Once the handles were the correct size we removed them, stained them, and let them dry.

Step 6 - Transfer and painting the names

The last step (which is optional) is to add a name to the front of the toolbox. Of course, you can do this freehand, but as a perfectionist, I like to print and transfer them on. Find a font that you like (I used “Another Typewriter” font in size 138…this can be downloaded for free if you search for it), and then type it into Word or PowerPoint and print. To transfer it onto the toolbox, cut the excess paper from around the name, flip the paper over to the back, and use a pencil to scribble where the name is (press hard, but not so hard that you poke through the paper). Then you can place the paper (scribble side down) onto the toolbox, trying to center it as best you can. Next, you’re going to use a pencil to carefully trace over the name without moving the paper (taping it down helps). Since these letters are pretty thick, I traced around each letter instead of just drawing a single line in the middle of each letter (as you can see in the photo below). Once the entire name is traced and transferred, I used an acrylic paint pen (black) to carefully paint in each letter.