DIY Wooden Box That is Cheap and Easy to Make!

Check out this easy and cheap DIY wooden box tutorial. A great beginner wood project with these simple wooden box plans.

I have a little confession… I’m becoming obsessed with wood working! It is so much fun and creating my own pieces is amazing!

I had a lot of fun with this easy project that can be used for so many things so I thought I’d share a DIY wooden box tutorial. It is a very cheap way to spruce up your house.

This DIY wood box only cost me the price of the handle and burlap since I used an old piece of fence. Then I used my Cricut and added some interchangeable signs to the box, but you can decorate it in so many ways.

There are a few different ways to make a wooden box depending on the look you want. I didn’t want the bottom to show so my inside piece is smaller. Ok, let’s get started!!

Materials for DIY Wooden Box

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Piece of wood – I used an old fence piece and I only needed one for this size box
Stain of your choice – I used Miniwax Early American
Saw – I love my Hitachi Miter Saw
Wood Glue and finishing nails
Clips for vinyl – I used Tim Holtz Metal Hinge Clips

This is what I started with and you can see what a mess my side yard is with all my random wood!

How to Make a DIY Wood Box

I wanted to make a smaller wooden box so I measured my wood to 18 inches. I cut two 18 inch pieces for the sides out of 5-inch wide wood fence and two 3 5/8 pieces for the ends.

I wanted a skinnier bottom so I used a 3.5 inch wood fence and cut it 16 3/4 inches long. Change the sizes based on how big you want the box!

So to sum up:

2 18″ pieces of 5 inch wood
2 3 5/8″ pieces of 5 inch wood
1 16 3/4″ piece of 3.5 inch wood

I love my Hitachi 10-inch Single Bevel Compound Miter Saw. I highly recommend one if you are going to be working with wood. It is so much easier and faster than using a jig saw! More time to build stuff!!

Just be careful, use proper eye protection and read all instructions for your machine.

Then if you are using unfinished wood you’ll need to sand it. (This is my least favorite part but essential!). I used my hand sander with 80 grit sand paper and then 220 grit sandpaper. It makes these pieces nice and smooth!

Dust off the wood and stain with whatever stain you like. I just brush on with a foam brush and wipe off excess with old cotton shirts.

Once it’s dry it’s time to put the simple wood box together.

Make sure you have the bottom centered and there is enough room on each end to attach the other end pieces. Apply wood glue to the bottom edges and hold it together for a bit.

Then I flipped it on it’s side and nailed in a few finishing nails to secure it in place. When I made this, I didn’t own a nail gun so if you have one then using it, would make this part even quicker!

Apply glue to end pieces and attach them to the ends. Add a few more finishing nails to the sides and bottom and that’s it!

I added some knobs on mine that I got at a going out of business OSH for like a quarter!

I wanted to display a burlap sign (click here for tutorial) so I also screwed in some hinges to hold it on. Just make sure all the burlap is the same length so they will each fit on hinges. Lay the burlap on the DIY wood box to mark where to add hinges.

It’s not perfect, but it doesn’t need to be!! That’s what gives it that one of a kind character! Here are the burlap signs on (click here for tutorial).

So many uses for this DIY wooden box!! Can’t wait to decorate it for the seasons!!!

I searched around and made a roundup of some great ways to decorate with a DIY wooden box including using it as a mason jar box holder. You can find the roundup by clicking here!