How to Build A Simple & Easy DIY 3-Tiered Rack

The coffee/hot cocoa bar I put together with my girls has been a big hit. Nearly daily they walk over to it and grab toppings off the 3-tiered rack and ask for some hot cocoa. Since it’s been so fun for my family, I thought I’d share how I built this 3-tiered rack in case you wanted to set up a hot cocoa bar for your family too.

Inspiration for the 3 Tiered Rack

When I was preparing this pie safe to become a coffee/hot cocoa bar I cleared everything (except the baskets) off the pie safe and started working with a blank slate. I began adding the different elements to the pie safe but got stuck when I came to the shelf that had the DIY tulip tray. Anyone else find it coincidental that the shelf that had a DIY tulip tray would be the shelf that now has a DIY 3-tiered rack haha?!

I played with all kinds of ideas for what I could put there, but nothing seemed to work. This shelf seemed like a perfect place to put the toppings because it was the right height for the girls. But I wanted to toppings to be displayed in a cute and fun way.

I’m sure you guys are getting tired of hearing about the back storage room. But it’s where everything is! It’s where I go and dig for ideas and find inspiration for new projects. The problem is no matter how many ideas I get that help empty this room, I always find a way to fill it up again. I guess this is good for inspiration!

Anyway, one day while I was back there rummaging around I found two wooden trays. They were used on the chicken farm for egg storage back when my husband’s family was running a chicken farm. But now they were just cute little pieces of décor waiting for me to be struck with inspiration.

Doesn’t the saying go “Necessity is the mother of all invention”? Well, I needed something so I created it. When I saw these 2 trays I envisioned taking them apart and putting them back together in such a way that would turn them into the perfect 3-tiered rack for displaying the toppings for the girls.

How to:

3 Tired Stadium Rack: Supplies

Circular saw
Nail gun
Nails
Sandpaper
Sander
Hammer
FuBar
Wood-1×3
Clamps
Saw Horse

3 Tired Stadium Rack: Instructions

I’m going to give you the instructions based on what I did since the wood I used was pre-cut. But, if you want to build this with new wood I’ll provide you with all the measurements so you can do the same thing.

You’ll need 3 6′ 1×3’s
Cut them to 24”, 12”, 7.5” & 3”
Below I’ll get into all the details.

Step 1.
The first thing I did was take these trays apart with a hammer and trim removal tool.

Step 2.
Next, I used a circular saw to cut the wood to the sizes I needed to create a 3-tiered rack. I ended up with:
6-24” pieces
2-12” pieces
2-7.5” pieces
2-3” pieces

Step 3.
After I disassembled and cut them to size I began sanding the wood. I wanted to sand them down to a more raw/natural wood look because they were a bit darker than I liked. (Remember the bookcase I refinished this summer? I really like a natural wood look.) You can use any sander you like, but I used a band saw because it was much more efficient than my mouse sander for getting to the natural wood.

Then I just rubbed the pieces of wood with a piece of sandpaper in my hand to get the rough edges smooth.

Step 4.
Now that I had the wood looking the way I wanted it I began putting it back together. I started at the bottom with 3 of the 24” pieces and the 2 12” pieces. I placed the 24” pieces back on the 12” pieces the way they were before I took them apart. To do this I clamped them to a saw horse and then pulled out a nail gun to nail them in place.

I lined the 3 24” pieces up parallel with equal spaces and placed the 12” pieces at both ends of the 24” pieces.

Step 5.
Next, using the same technique, I nailed the 2 7.5” pieces on top of the 24” pieces on the same ends where I had the 12” pieces.

Step 6.
After I had the 7.5” pieces nailed in place I added 2 of the 24” pieces going the same direction as the other 3 24” pieces. At this point, you should start to see the stacking this is going on, which is creating the stadium look.

Step 7.
Next, I nailed the 3” pieces and the final 24” piece to the top of the rack creating the final stadium appearance.

3 Tiered Rack Uses Beyond Hot Cocoa Bar

Like I mentioned before, the girls absolutely love this hot cocoa station. It’s been the highlight of our winter and winter is just getting started! I’m so excited that I found a way to repurpose these trays. They went from being items sitting on a shelf collecting dust, to items being used all the time.

I’m actually wondering if when I’m ready to take the hot cocoa bar down I could use this as a way to organize one of my kitchen cabinets. Anyone else hiding a mess behind those cabinet doors? I’m not really sure where it will go yet, but for now, it’s getting so much love sitting on this lower shelf providing the girls’ easy access to delicious toppings for their hot cocoa.

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Open Your Doors,
Aliya