Magical Key Box Tutorial

I began looking up key displays, and my favorite images were all vintage hotel key displays. Rather than flat boards with key hooks, these old displays had boxes where the keys hung from top-mount key hooks. I liked how the play of shadow and depth in the boxes accentuate the key details more than the flat board style key hooks.

Several years ago I salvaged a discolored dingy vintage print, solely for the gorgeous vintage frame. I grabbed it out of storage, yanked out all the old nails, glass, and print, and set the frame aside for this project.

Using the dimensions of the frame, I laid out the key slot sizes using painter’s tape and a dimensioned cutting mat. This allowed me to adjust the proportions with the keys and keychains to get the sizing right.

Once I had general sizes figured out, I drafted up a quick SketchUp model of the box with dimensioned pieces for my cutting plan.

Next I needed to decide the color of the box. I thought that showing a wood grain would get too busy with the intricate frame and keys, so I wanted to use a solid paint color.

Unlike vintage hotel keys, each of the LitJoy keys vary greatly in both design and color. I did a quick ‘paint bucket’ mockup of a few color combinations in SketchUp to decide color. I chose a flat charcoal color as a contrasting backdrop for the keys to pop against (the option on the right below). I ended up using some spare paint left over from my Ollivander’s display in our magical alley.

I had several scrap pieces of particleboard & hardboard in my workshop, so I utilized these pieces rather than purchasing wood. Since the box is painted, I didn’t need anything to match. In retrospect, I would have made the flat facia pieces a wood or MDF material rather than particleboard, as the flat finish of the paint I used shows some of the texture of the particleboard rather than a perfectly smooth face.

Once the pieces were cut, I laid it out (without adhesive) to verify that everything fit together as needed with the frame opening.

The vertical partitions between the key slots are thin 1/8″ material (to maximize the width of the individual key cubbies). The (32) little strips help these slide and hold in place, rather than using hardware or glue.

On (3) of the 2″ x 15″ boards (dark turquoise) and the (1) 2-1/2″ x 15″ board (light turquoise), measure and mark on the 15″ length for 3″, 6″, 9″ & 12″.

Adhere (glue) two of these 1/4″ strips on either side of your mark, leaving the thickness of your vertical slats between them (approximately 1/8, but err on the side of excess, since paint will swell the wood a bit). The strips will stick up a 1/2″ past the 2″ pieces, but will be fine once assembled.

Now it is time to paint!

You will want to pre-paint your parts before assembly. It is much easier to paint the flat pieces than the assembled unit. Touchup painting is done at the end.

Time for Assembly!

Starting with the frame of the box, begin gluing together the components. Once your glue has set, add screws or nails to further strengthen the joinery. Since I used 1/2″ particleboard, it did not have enough density or strength to withstand screws (even with pilot holes, it was iffy), so I used nails to reinforce the joinery.

For more clarity, here is a diagram of assembly…

The vertical dividers between the key slots slide in between the strips that were glued to the (turquoise) pieces. Once all parts were painted, these were a SNUG fit, so I used a hammer to tap them into place. They definitely aren’t going anywhere!

Attaching the Frame:

To attach the frame, I grabbed a couple of wood scraps in my stash, and nailed them to the two long (purple) sides of the box. These need to be narrower than the frame, so they don’t stick out from the frame. Their length isn’t important, I think mine were approximately 15″ long.

Make sure your nail holes are going into the concealed section (between the turquoise supports, covered by the green facia boards). You don’t want to see nails sticking out your finished key slots! 

Once these blocks were secured to the box, I *carefully* manually screwed these to the frame on the backside of the frame.

Make sure your screws are long enough to grab the frame, but not pierce through your frame. I highly recommend manually screwing rather than power tools for this part.

**I’m sure there is a more graceful or professional way to do this, but I had scraps laying around and it seemed to be a simple way to go about it.

Nameplates

Nameplates were cut from 1/8″ birch with a laser cutter and painted metallic gold (Rub ‘n Buff Metallic Gold Leaf)

 Since all of the keys aren’t yet out, I may want to fiddle with the order of the keys to be more visually balanced, so I have attached the nameplates with magnets. This allows the keys to be reconfigured as needed.