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Creating a Catch-All Caddy

Posted by Kohly Hawkins on

This project was a quick and easy Christmas gift for friend of ours who needed a simple organizing station for the nightstand. I've seen a ton of difference designs out there with different notches and cutouts for watches, necklaces, rings - pretty much anything you can think of. I found a couple layouts that I felt would fit my ideas and decided to go with the front facing design with the base storage hidden behind. From a cleanliness perspective, the goal was to provide a tool for a decluttering a space and allowing the front plate covers everything being stored on the caddy. 
I chose to use a strip of 3/4" walnut and glued them together to make a section roughly 10" wide and 7" tall. I did this twice to make the two pieces and ran them through the planer to ensure a flat face. I ran my Festool orbital sander across the faces to polish the first fresh layer of wood and prepared the surfaces for the routing out of the grooves. The front piece has a groove for a necklace or a pair of sunglasses up in the top corner, a large cutout for a watch or bracelet, and a small 3/8" dowel that is good for holding a ring or two. 
The half cut joint allows for the two pieces to slide together and settle into a relaxed angle slightly backwards. The base piece is offset right around an inch and half which serves as a small lip for a wallet or cell phone to rest on. I cut a small groove into the base to allow a phone cable space to come through, but once I finished I wish I wouldn't have put it so close to the middle.
There is also a small bowl groove to hold a pen or two, or just catch whatever is sitting on the ledge. 

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