More often than not, we’re working right up until the last minute on Clara’s homemade Christmas gift — sometimes literally with things drying in the garage on Christmas Eve. This year was no different. The best part about sharing the gift after she receives it is getting to include photos of her actually enjoying it, which is our favorite thing to witness. Meet Clara’s new figurine cubby:
She absolutely loves it.
When brainstorming what to make this year (a tool workshop? a fruit stand? a cardboard playhouse?), we kept coming back to the idea that she still uses many of the larger toys we’ve made her — like her play kitchen, refrigerator, dollhouse, and train board — and we didn’t want to build another big floor piece that would take up space we don’t really have. Instead we decided to make something that hung on the wall.
Clara has a serious obsession with small figures: tiny animals, winged fairies, LEGO people, ninja turtles, plastic dragons — you name it. She arranges and re-arranges them constantly, so we thought a wall-mounted box with multiple cubbies would be the perfect home for her collection. We also wanted to include her in the process, so we planned to use fabric from her weekly photo project that she had picked out earlier without knowing its purpose. That way the gift would feel personalized.
We chose a spot on her wall beneath her blue clock since she already liked balancing figurines on the clock’s small ledge — though only a few could fit there. We decided a 13″ x 17″ box would work best, sketched a few layout options, and considered making uniform cubbies. Ultimately we settled on a variety of compartment sizes so the shelf could accommodate different toys and grouping preferences — some cubbies for clusters like her peg princesses, and others for lone figures (in Clara’s words: “silly mommy, birds don’t play with dragons!”).
After finalizing the design, we bought 1/2″ craft boards from the home improvement store — the wood cost about $20 total, including extras for errors. John cut the top, bottom, and side pieces and a selection of interior dividers. We used wood glue and 1/2″ brad nails to assemble the outer frame, holding the corners square by bracing them against a box while nailing to keep everything aligned.
Before finishing the assembly, we pulled several of Clara’s toys from her collection to test the cubby sizes. That revealed a few adjustments were needed, so I ran out to the garage to cut some additional pieces. With the dimensions finalized, we built the cubbies from the bottom up: gluing and nailing the first row of vertical dividers in place, then adding the first horizontal shelf. We let that dry overnight and repeated the process for the next row.
Once all interior dividers were installed, we completed the frame by attaching the remaining L-shaped piece. John cut a thin piece of leftover plywood for the back and secured it with glue and nails, which felt a bit like putting the cardboard back on an Ikea bookcase. One coat of primer and two coats of Simply White semi-gloss paint finished the unit (in hindsight it would have been easier to paint some pieces before attaching the back).
The most fun part was choosing fabric with Clara. She was decisively quick — choosing the pink flamingos immediately and picking out five other favorites while dismissing the rest with a cheerful “nope” or “next!” That night, while she slept on Christmas Eve, I made paper templates for the cubbies I wanted to fabric-line and used them to cut the fabric precisely. I deliberately added fabric to about half the cubbies so the result would feel balanced rather than busy.
For adhesion I used Mod Podge. I painted a thin layer on the back of each cubby (not on the fabric), positioned the fabric carefully, smoothed out wrinkles, and pressed it in place. The Mod Podge dried in about thirty minutes and held perfectly. It was a quick, tidy solution that didn’t require any late-night trips to the craft store.
On Christmas morning Clara was thrilled. She loved that her figurines finally had a home and she immediately recognized the fabric choices she’d made the night before. Getting a child involved in a project, especially for their own room, makes the gift feel extra special — her delighted “You remembered my flamingos!” was priceless.
We weren’t sure whether she’d play with the figures while they were in their cubbies or simply use the cubbies for storage. It turns out she does both: she stages “apartments” inside the compartments (surprisingly, Ariel is fine sharing a room with a dragon) and often takes the toys out to play with them elsewhere, but she’s also great about returning them to their spots when she’s finished.
All told, we spent about $20 on materials since we already had supplies like wood glue, paint, and Mod Podge. If you need to buy those extras, plan to add another $5–$20. To hang the piece we attached two D-rings to the back and mounted it on screws secured with wall anchors for a sturdy hold.
That’s what we built, painted, and fabric-lined for Clara this Christmas. Did you make any homemade gifts for kids this year? We’ve seen some amazing play kitchens recently — it’s hard to believe it’s been two years since we made Clara’s original one.
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