I have finally updated the storage area above my workbench. There used to be five plastic cat litter boxes on the shelf. They had worked well for many years, but they were open at the top, allowing dust and dirt to collect. I didn’t like the look of them either.

A recent tidy-up produced a load of scrap wood we were going to burn. Going through the scrap, I realized I had enough to make a set of boxes to replace my cat litter containers. And that’s what I have done.

I made a simple box, tall enough to fill the gap between the shelves; the front, bottom, and back are made of rough ½-inch plywood, and the sides are made of finished ¼-inch plywood. I also faced the fronts with ¼-inch plywood, cut slightly taller than the boxes to create a lip at the bottom, so that they cannot be pushed in too far—there are some cables running behind them. There are no fancy joints. They are simply glued and brad-nailed together.

I made all five boxes in an afternoon, so, the finish isn’t furniture level, but they fit the space well and look much better.

The original boxes made from cat litter containers

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