How to Build a Dress-Up Trunk for Your Little Girl

Ok, so no little girls’ life would be complete with out an old trunk full of fun dress up clothes. This is a simple project you can make that will create hours of fun for your little girl while she plays dress up and pretend. You can make this dress up trunk out of a variety of materials, so use what you have to save some money for those dress up clothes!

To Build a Dress Up Trunk You will need the Following Materials:

1 vintage leather trunk
plywood cut to size
4 casters
drill
Screwdriver
Screws
Wooden curtain rod
Curtain Hardware
Childe sized hangers
Hooks
Tape Measure
Paint
Primer
Paint brushes

Now, I always come across great old vintage clothing trunks at the flea market. Some are in great condition while others could use a little TLC. You can also find great old vintage trunks at antique stores, flea and tiques, and even salvage yards. You can also check our local newspaper’s classified section. In general I have found these leather and wood trunks form as little as $45 to as much as $300.

Now, if you can not find a vintage trunk then you can always buy a new trunk at either Wal-Mart or Target. They sell great trunks that would be perfect for this little dress up closet for about $25.

Now, use your tape measure to measure the end of your leather trunk. This would be either the left or right side of the trunk if it were sitting correctly on the ground.

Have your plywood cut to this size. You can have your plywood cut at the home improvement store for about 25 cents per cut. This is a great way to do fun wood working projects that might otherwise require a saw and know how.

Now, I like to go ahead and paint the board you just cut with primer an then a latex interior paint that matches the vintage trunk.
Once this has dried place your plywood cut out on a flat work surface. Stan your vintage trunk on its end on the play wood. Open the trunk door.

You wan to place screws through the inside of the vintage trunk into the plywood to create a sturdy and stable base for the dress up trunk. You can predrill hole storage the e trunk into the plywood cut out to help the process along.

Now, I recommend putting one screw in each of the four corns of the inside of the trunk. Do not put any screws in the lid.
Now, close the vintage drunk and trunk it over so that it is lying on the opposite end and has the plywood cut out on top.

Place you castors in each of the four corners of the dress up trunk. Mark where your screw needs to go with pencil. Use the power drill t pre drill your hole.

Replace the castors and screw in the screws through their holes.

Now, flip the vintage leather trunk back over and have it standing in the castors.

Now, open the vintage leather trunk, you are going to install the dress up hanging rods and hardware.

I like to use one of those egret wooden curtain rods that can be cut to size for this part for the dress up trunk. You can cut them to size easily with a hand saw. You could also use plumbing pipe that has been cut to fit inside.

Place you curtain hardware eon each side of the interior of the vintage leather trunk. Mark where the holes need to be. Predrill them with your power drill.

Now, replace the hardware and screw in the bolts or screws and nuts.

Now, I like to use the kind of curtain mounting hardware that allows you to simply slip the curtain rod into place. If you can find this, you ouch d pre drill one hole through the side of the left and right side of the trunk. Then screw in one screw from the outside into the wooden curtain rod inside.

This curtain rod should be hung about four inches from the new top of the vintage trunk so hangers on it.

Now, for some added fun you could install a plexi glass mirror in the door of the vintage trunk. This will allow every on to check out their new outfits as they play dress up!

You could also hang hooks in Side of the vintage leather trunk for more storage.