I have an amazing project for you today… fun Christmas present boxes for your porch! These babies are oversized and light up! Plus they’re inexpensive and take up a lot of real estate… my favorite kind of holiday project.
These boxes are pretty easy to make but they are pretty time consuming (it took me about a day and a half to finish them) so make sure you have some time before getting started. Or be prepared to work on them in stages… whatever works better for you.
Ready to get started?
Pssst… looking for even more outdoor decor ideas? Scroll to the bottom to find a few fun ideas from my favorite bloggers!
Supplies:
- 3 Sheets of 2 foot by 4 foot Plywood Panels
- 10 8 feet long 1×2 ‘s
- Chicken Wire
- Wire Cutters
- Aarow Staple Gun
- Worx Portable Work Table
- Kreg Jig K4
- 96 3/4″ Pocket Hole Screws
- 2 Boxes Pocket Hole Pegs
- Dremel Saw Max
- Sand Paper/Sanding Block
- Craftsman Brad Nailer
- 1/2 Long Brad Nails
- Ryobi Power Drill
- Large Clamp
- Gray Paint
- Paint Brush
- Spackle
- Lights/Ornaments/White Fabric/Holly Leaves/Star Pillows
Step 1: Cut Your Wood
Alright y’all the very first step in this project is to cut down our 1×2’s. We’re making 3 boxes that will measure 10 inches, 14 inches and 18 inches wide… so we need to cut down the 1×2’s into corresponding sizes.
Since each box will have four sides and each side needs 4 pieces of wood we’ll need 16 cut lengths for each box. So cut 16 10 inch pieces, 16 14 inch pieces and 16 18 inch pieces.
Get the picture?
In order to make this as easy as possible I lined up 4 1×2’s at a time and clamped them tight with the built in clamps on my little worx work table. (Say that five times fast!) Then I measured out 10 inches and cut straight across all 4 boards with my little dremel saw max.
Keep going until you’ve cut out all 48 pieces. Then sand the edges smooth so that you don’t have any splinters (or rough edges!).
Step 2: Drill Your Holes
Now that our boards are all cut we can go ahead and drill our holes. I used my Kreg Jig to make pocket holes so that they would be hidden once the boxes were put together.
I love the k4 model because you can clamp the kreg jig to the work surface and then easily slide the boards in and out without having to individually clamp each board!
So much easier.
Simply set the kreg jig to 3/4 of an inch, set your drill bit collar to 3/4 of an inch and drill 2 pocket holes into the right side of all 48 pieces.
While I don’t have a step by step tutorial on how to use the K4 you can see the full break down on this little beginner kreg jig 320. The k4 uses the same concept except for the clamping (like I said earlier!).
Step 3: Attach Your Boards Together
Now it’s time to put our sides together! Go ahead and clamp your boards together at a 90 degree angle with the drill holes going into the end of the next board. This is going to be a box so make sure you’re drilling into the side of the board with no drill holes. The drill holes for the the next board should be up above with the outside kreg jig holes on the left so that the screws will go into the next board on the right.
We’re making a square y’all.
Once you have this little guy clamped in (technically I’m using the built in clamp on my table for the bottom board, and the top part is just a guide that the boards can slide under and help keep the right angle, but do whatever keeps your boards the sturdiest) go ahead and insert both screws.
Your kreg jig kit will include a long screw driver attachment for your drill so that you can drive the screws deep down into the screw holes. It’s also magnetic so that you can just pop the screws on the end and drive them home.
Go ahead and put all 4 sides of one box together… then move on to the next. You should have 4 10 inch boxes, 4 14 inch boxes and 4 18 inch boxes when you’re all done.
If you want to cover those large kreg jig holes with pegs now is the time to do that… then go ahead and paint those babies gray! Once your boxes are painted you can go ahead and add the chicken wire to the back. (You can follow the steps in this farmhouse frame tutorial for adding chicken wire to a frame if you need help).
Ta-da! See how the kreg jig holes are almost non existent? It’s the pegs.
Step 4: Form Your Box
Now it’s time for the big guns… literally. Girls get out your brad nailers because it is time to put these boxes together.
Yes, we could have drilled more pocket holes so that we didn’t have to nail into the face of our boxes but since there wouldn’t be a good way to sink that fourth set of screws in to secure the final side of the box we decided to go with the brad nailer instead.
This baby will push those brads in far and deep so that they aren’t visible on the front of our boxes… and we can fill the tiny holes left by putty.
So start by holding two sides of your box together (like in the photo above) and then secure them with brads. I went with five. One in at the top, one at the bottom and 3 spaced evenly down the side.
BONUS TIP: When you add your brads to the top and bottom of the box sides please pay attention to the kreg jig holes. You do not want to fire a brad into a screw… it won’t end well for anyone. Think Iron Man vs Captain America but on a much smaller scale. Brad vs Screw.
Once you’ve done one side go ahead and work your way around until all 4 sides are added and you have a box! Then do the other two boxes before moving on to the next step!
Step 5: Cut the Top and Bottom
Now it’s time to get the saw max back out. I decided to use plywood for the top and bottom of these boxes (because I wanted to keep the project cost effective) but you could easily go with a thicker material to match the box sides if you wanted.
For each box we’ll need a top, a bottom and a few pieces of spare wood to build a lip for the inside of the top.
I simply placed each of the boxes on the plywood and traced around the bottom. Because of the way we nailed the boxes together they aren’t a perfect 10×10, 14×14 or 18×18… and unless you’re super cool they’re probably not 100% straight either.
That’s okay (these little boxes are pretty forgiving) but it makes tracing the boxes for the top and bottom easier… since then they’ll fit perfectly.
Go ahead and cut out all of the pieces and then paint them. I went ahead and nailed the bottom of my boxes on right away (so I didn’t get the top and bottom mixed up) and then moved on to the top.
Now you can simply place the top onto the box… that’s fine. But I wanted to make sure the tops stayed snug as a bug in a rug. So I took a few of the scrap pieces of wood and stapled them in place so that the tops wouldn’t shift in the wind, or when moved, or when a cat tries to sit on them.
You know… whatever.
Then I went a step further and added two screw holes in the center of each present top so that I would have a place to thread the wire for the bows on top of each box!
Score!
Once your box top is finished you’re ready to rock! Go ahead and place them on your porch and decorate them to your hearts content.
I decided to fill mine with white fur fabric (because let’s face it these babies are big and I didn’t have enough stuff to actually fill the entire box!) then a combination of battery operated Christmas lights, large ornaments, holly leaves from my backyard and fun star shaped pillows from the Target dollar spot.
Ready for the final reveal?
They look even better at night!
I love the glow from the boxes as you drive by. They’re just so festive!
Psst. Looking for the tutorial for the wreath on my front door? You can find it here. The gnomes are from a certain store that I visit way to often (TjMaxx) but you can find similar ones here.
Looking for more rose gold holiday goodness? These posts are for you!
Ready for a few more fun Outdoor Decor projects? Let’s get those porches looking amazing y’all! My friends in blog land (aka a few of my favorite blog friends) have put together an entire set of ideas for you to try!
Of course, this isn’t a stand alone project. We’ve been bringing you new and exciting holiday content all season long… and this is week 4 of our holiday extravaganza! This week we’re all sharing our favorite quick and easy outdoor decor. Check out all the fun below:
