Every home needs a step stool, whether there are children around or not. From household duties such as changing lightbulbs or reaching a top shelf, to kid-friendly pursuits like washing hands or helping in the kitchen, one or more step stools are required for living.

You can buy step stools everywhere, but nothing beats the satisfaction of building your own. This step stool is made from wood that can be found at any local hardware store, as well as your own scrap pile. It also features a fun and handy storage compartment that can be used to keep small tools or bath toys tucked away for future use.

Credit to Ana White for the plans to build this storage step stool. She also includes some Sketchup diagrams which can be useful.

To build this stool you'll need to pull together a few basic tools and supplies.

Supplies:

1x12 pine board cut to 52 inches in length

1 x 6 pine board cut to 24 inches in length

1 x 8 pine board cut to 28 inches in length

Box of 2" wood screws

1 pair of medium brass hinges

Tools:

Cordless drill/driver with bits to drill pilot holes

Jigsaw

Measuring tape

Square

Pencil

Wood glue

Sanding block

Clamps

Safety glasses

The dimensions of this stool are 12 inches tall x 15 inches deep x 13 1/2 inches wide. The cut list for this stool is as follows:

2 – 1 × 12 at 14 inches long (sides)

2 – 1 × 12 at 12 inches long (storage box sides)

2 – 1 × 6 at 12 inches long (storage box bottom and footer)

2 – 1 × 8 at 14 inches long (treads)

You can deviate from the supplies list by using scrap wood you might have laying around. We used 3/4-inch plywood for the 1 x 12 sides as we already had that on hand, and liked the look of the two different grains of wood. The thickness also matched that of our pine boards which was important. When using plywood be careful of tear out and drive screws slowly.

These plans assume you are using standard width boards to these dimensions: 1 x 6s are 5 1/2-inches wide, 1 x 8s are 7 1/2-inches wide, and 1x12s are 11 1/2-inches wide. These measurements can vary based on location and where you bought your boards. Adjust your measurements accordingly.