For ages we had a large mattress pad for use with our downstairs futon. It lived in a giant box. On top of it went the spare blanket and sheets and pillows.

I decided to make a blanket chest to hold it. Each of the sides and the bottom were made with rails and stiles, filled in with 3/4” plywood. I mitered the legs to join them, and while the glue up was tricky, I was confident it would last because it was all sidegrain on the glue joint.

The top was made from scrap pieces of pine that I had around from various projects. Since none of the pieces were long enough to span the entire length, smaller pieces were tongue-and-grooved into each other to make longer boards, which were in turn flattened and glued together to form the top.

The bottom was a split pane, because I wasn’t sure that just a plywood bottom would be strong enough to hold the weight.

I put a breadboard on either end, being sure to only glue the center to allow for expansion and contraction of the top.

I used simple door hinges, but that makes it a little tricky to open, add things, and close.

It’s also way bigger than it needed to be. Live and learn.