Home Improvement : Easy Storage in Rollaway Drawer

If your bedroom needs extra storage space--a place to handle extra blankets, sheets, off-season clothing and the like--the best place to find it may be under your bed. There’s a lot of space going to waste under there, and the simple rollout drawer shown in the sketch is an easy way to put it to use.

You can make the whole thing in a couple of hours with basic tools and materials. Here’s how it goes:

1. Start by deciding on the size of the drawer. This will be determined by the size of your bed, its height off the floor, how much storage you want and how much room you have to roll the drawer out from under the bed for access. If you have the roll-out space, you can make the drawer just a few inches smaller than the outside dimensions of your bed, and about two or three inches shallower than the distance from the floor to the underside of the bed.

2. Once you have decided on the drawer size, cut a sheet of 3/4-inch plywood 1 1/2 inches shorter and narrower than that dimension. This will be the bottom of the drawer.

3. Next, cut out the sides. You could use plywood for these, but if you use pine you’ll get a neater job with no plywood edges left exposed. If necessary, rip the sides to the desired depth of the drawer, then cut to length. Cut the front and back of the drawer the same length as the plywood bottom. Cut the ends 1 1/2 inches longer than the ends of the plywood.

4. Now assemble the box. This is a simple matter of butt-joining everything together with white or yellow glue and 1 3/4-inch flat-head screws. Note that the bottom fits inside the frame created by the sides.

5. Now make and mount four plywood wheels as shown in the sketch. Size of the wheels isn’t critical. Trace around the bottom of a gallon paint can and you’ll get a circle about 6 1/2 inches in diameter. This large size rolls well even on thick carpet. Drill a 3/8-inch hole in the end of the drawer, add another washer and finally thread on a bolt and snug it up tight. Repeat with the three other wheels and the drawer is ready to roll.

Refinements

The drawer doesn’t really need a finish, but without one, it will tend to fill your room with the odor of plywood. For that reason, a coat of shellac is a good idea. It will seal in the smell of the plywood, and unlike many other finishes, won’t add a chemical note of its own.

To make the drawer easy to handle, you might like to add a couple of drawer pulls to the front as shown. And a cover of some sort is a good idea to keep out dust and moths. You can make a simple drop-on cover from a sheet of 1/8-inch hardboard with a pine frame. Size it so the frame drops over the drawer like the lid on a shoe box.

Underbed Cart

Handy “drawer” on wheels can open up waste space under bed for storage of extra blankets, off-season clothing and so on. Size of bed and height off floor as well as access room to roll out drawer determine its size. Detail shows construction of wheels, which should be large enough to roll on thick carpet. A drop-on hardboard cover will keep out dust and moths.

Los Angeles Times Syndicate