Cardboard Box Furniture for Kids

Playroom Chairs and More

Whether you’d like your little girl to have a tv chair that suits her size, or your kids have a nice playroom but no furniture, you can easily hook them up with ordinary cardboard boxes. You might not think that a cardboard box would make a supportive or beautiful chair but you’d would be wrong! Anyone can easily make durable cardboard furniture that kids will play with for a long time, look at here now. If you’ve ever browsed mini furniture you’ll know that cardboard furniture would be a real bargain! One child’s chair can cost fifty bucks or more!

Okay, a cardboard box isn’t really going to support anyone, let alone a child. That’s true if you use the box as-is; it’ll simply cave in when someone tries to sit on it. However, there is an easy way to make the chair much more durable in just a few minutes. After you’ve performed that step you’ll be able to make a huge assortment of furniture depending upon the amount, the shape and the sizes of boxes you have.

You’ll need a small, square box to make the seat for the chair. By small, I don’t mean a crock pot size. Choose a box that will be appropriate for a child. So, the box should at least come up to the knees of the child – maybe slightly higher. The box should be square but can also be rectangular. It can have flaps, which will be glued shut later, or it can be a box without flaps. The box should, however, be made from fairly thick cardboard. In addition to the box you’ll also need a couple of strips of thick cardboard. These pieces should be long enough to reach from one side of the box to the other and should be cut so that they are as tall as the box – then cut a tiny sliver off of that measurement.

Take the two strips of cardboard and find the middle area by measuring with a yardstick. Draw a line across the width of each piece, but stop the line halfway down. Now cut these lines so that the width of each cardboard strip has a slit halfway across the center. Place one slit inside the other to form a huge “x”. This “x” shape, when placed inside the cardboard box, will sturdy it tremendously. If the box is one that has flaps, place the cardboard “x” inside, then tape or glue the flaps shut. If the box has no flaps you have other choices. Set the “x” on the floor and position the box over it; the “x” will be left alone, though, if the child lifts the chair up to move it. You can cut a piece of cardboard from another source and tape it to the box or you can simply use tape across the bottom to secure.

A single box, although strengthened, doesn’t make for that great of a chair. It does make a great footstool, though. To make a more impressive chair incorporate additional boxes. First, cover the square, strengthened box with wrapping paper, cloth, adhesive shelf liner or another choice. This is, of course, the actual seat of the chair. Now choose a long, wide, but shallow box to make the back. This particular box should then be wrapped in matching cloth or paper and attached to the backside of the box. It should be as wide as the original box but should be much taller. Make side arms by using similar boxes. The side arm boxes should be shorter than the tall back box but should still be taller than the seat box. Wrap them and attach them to the sides of the original box to form the arms of the chair. Hot glue or glue strips will make it easy to stick the boxes together.

Although the box chair isn’t sturdy enough to allow people to sit on the arms it will definitely allow a lightweight person to sit comfortably. Make the back of the chair – or even the arms – more sturdy by inserting thick pieces of Styrofoam. The boxes remain lightweight enough to move around but are much stronger with the Styrofoam. Small cardboard boxes, inserted into the back or arm boxes, can also add a little more sturdiness to the finished chair.

Make additional furniture pieces by creating various designs. Make end tables from boxes that don’t contain the inside, cardboard “x”. Make a coffee table by using a box that’s wide, tall and rectangular. If covered in paper simply re-wrap it when needed. Make bench seats by wrapping several square, strengthened boxes and sticking them together along a wall. With these, no backing or side arms are needed, however, you can add side arms to the end boxes if you want.

Things can be added to give the furniture a more distinguished appearance. For example, glue tassels to the fronts of the arms of a chair or just place a throw pillow on the seat. Your kids will love the new furniture and you’ll like having a fun way to recycle the old boxes. It doesn’t take that long to make the chairs so get busy and make several. The kids can pitch in and help!