How to Make a Wooden Wii Station

Planning and Templates

• 1

  Design your Wii station on a piece of paper. Do you want to have the top shelf where you store the Wii upright, and space to keep your collection of games, or should you lay the console on its side and keep a Wii remote and nunchuk in the neighboring space? Will the console stand have several layers, including a space to house your Wii Fit balance board, or will it just get the console off the ground? Take these design points into consideration when you're designing the console stand.

• 2

  Trace the Wii console dimensions onto a sheet of paper and cut them out. You should measure and cut at least three sides, making the pieces of paper slightly larger so that you have a front, side and top template of the machine. The front and back of the machine should always be accessible, so that you can plug it into the TV and insert discs, and there are panels which open on one of the machine's sides, allowing you to plug in Gamecube controllers and memory cards. Bear this in mind when tracing the design.

• 3

  Repeat Step 2 for any accessories that you intend to store. Make at least one Wiimote and nunchuk set, leaving some extra space for the wire on the latter. If you have a Wii Fit balance board, you may need to tape a couple of sheets together.

Tracing and Building

• 4

  Lay out the Wii console templates and any of the accessories you'll place on your top piece of wood. Trace these onto the wood, leaving space to attach divider pieces or make an enclosed container. If you intend to leave space for your Wii Balance Board, make sure the top layer is at least as wide as the board is.

• 5

  Trace a straight rectangle out of the piece of wood, and cut your shelf out.

• 6

  Repeat steps 1 and 2 for any other shelves you intend to have on your Wii stand.

• 7

  Trace out two identical pieces to make the sides. Make sure this piece is long enough to accommodate all of the accessories and leaves some space (at least 1/2 inch) to fit fingers in to pull things out. Measure the height of your accessories and add them together, measure the width of the wood and add in all of the layers, and then add at least an inch to that, and finally tack on the side height of the Wii itself. Cut out both pieces.

• 8

  Measure and cut any divider pieces as well. For example, on a shelf, the piece should be as long as the shelf, and as tall as the space between the shelves. On the top level, it should be as tall as your Wii console is when laid on the side.

• 9

  Assemble the stand according to your directions. Drill, glue and screw the stand together.

• 10

  Paint or stain the stand to match your room's decor, and finish the stand based on your tastes. Leave the stand to dry before using.