Design At A Glance Front elevation

Front elevation reads three rows of trays. Sharpies and gel pens up top, paint pens in the middle, colored pencils on the bottom row.

The unit is a shallow wall cabinet with three internal shelves, mounted to wall studs via a French cleat. Each shelf holds removable trays sized to the pen type that lives there. You lift any tray straight up and forward to take it with you, slot it back in when done. Pen tops sit above each tray rim so you can see what is where at a glance.

The pivot from the desktop stadium-tier concept is deliberate: a wall mount lets you reclaim 10 in of desk surface, and a flat-paneled rack reads cleaner on a wall than a stepped box. The modular tray idea you wanted survives the pivot. It is still the core of the design.

A note on Baltic birch. Real Russian/Latvian Baltic birch has been hard to source since 2022. What Iffland calls Baltic birch today is often domestic Apple Ply or European birch, both of which are excellent for this. If they hand you a 13-ply void-free panel, you have what you need regardless of label.

1/2-inch Baltic birch plywood, 4x4 ft panel back, sides, bottom, 3 shelves · qty 1 · Iffland Lumber

$45 to $65 Still Needed

1/2-inch Baltic birch ply scrap, ~26 in total length French cleat strips, both halves · qty ~30 sq in · offcut from main panel

included Still Needed

1/4-inch basswood, 6x24 in blanks small + medium tray walls and bottoms · qty 5 · Iffland special order or Rockler

$75 to $100 Still Needed

3/8-inch basswood, 6x24 in blank large colored-pencil tray walls and bottoms · qty 1 · Iffland special order or Rockler

$22 to $30 Still Needed

Wood glue, Titebond III interior + exterior rated, 8 oz · qty 1 bottle · Iffland or Hocon

$8 Still Needed

Brad nails, 18ga, 1 in length tray + carcass assembly · qty 1 box · in inventory

included Owned

#10 wood screws, 2.5 in length cleat to studs, 4 minimum · qty 6 · Hocon Lumber

$5 Still Needed

Sandpaper, 220 + 320 grit 5 sheets each · qty 10 sheets · Hocon or local

$8 Still Needed

Pure tung oil, Real Milk Paint Co. food-safe, no VOCs, warm finish · qty 16 oz · order online

$28 Still Needed

Tool	Status	Notes
Impact driver	Owned	Pre-drill, then drive screws into studs for cleat mount.
Miter saw	Owned	All carcass cuts and tray-wall cross-cuts. Set a stop block for repeatable lengths.
Tape measure, square, level, pencil	Owned	Standard layout work.
Rubber mallet	Owned	Seating tray assemblies during glue-up without denting basswood.
Stud finder	Owned	For locating studs behind drywall. Mark stud centers with painter's tape before drilling the cleat.
1 in Forstner bit + 1/4 in drill bit	Owned	Forstner for the tray finger cutouts. 18 cutouts total. The bit pays itself off.
Brad nailer, 18ga	Buy · $65	You already have 18ga brads in inventory, so the nailer is what is missing. Pays for itself across this build and the next several. Ryobi cordless or Bostitch pneumatic both work well, $55 to $90 range.
Bar clamps, 12 in · 4-pack	Buy · $40	Need 4 minimum for carcass glue-up. Worth owning, every Manor build uses them. Bessey or Pony at Hocon, or Harbor Freight if budget matters more than refinement.
Table saw or circular saw with guide	Owned	For ripping the 4x4 ft panel into back, sides, shelves. Ask Iffland to break down the sheet on their panel saw. Most lumberyards do this for $1 to $2 a cut.

Weekend 01 of 02 Source materials and assemble the carcass ~6-8 hrs total

Iffland Lumber run, Saturday morning. Pick up the 4x4 ft Baltic birch panel, glue, sandpaper, screws, and pin nails. Special-order the basswood blanks at the counter. They typically arrive within a week. Ask the panel saw to break down the 4x4 ft into your major cuts to save time at home.

~90 min round trip

Final cuts on the miter saw. Trim Iffland's panel cuts to final dimensions. Use a stop block for repeatable lengths. Cut the back, sides, bottom, and three shelves. Set the cleat strips aside, you will cut the 45 deg angle later.

~2 hours

Dry-fit the carcass. Lay the back panel flat. Mark shelf positions: shelf 1 at 0.5 in, shelf 2 at 9 in, shelf 3 at 15.5 in from the bottom edge. Stand the side panels and bottom in place. Confirm everything seats square against a level. Mark the inside face of each side panel where shelves land.

~45 min

Sand all parts to 220 grit. Easier to sand flat parts before assembly than to sand inside the cabinet later. Pay attention to plywood edges, they tend to be ragged. Knock down any tear-out from the panel saw cuts.

~75 min

Glue and pin-nail the carcass. Run a thin bead of Titebond III on each joint. Assemble in this order: bottom to one side, second side to bottom, back panel onto the back edges, then drop in the three shelves. Brad-nail at every joint while glue is wet. Clamp the case overnight and let glue cure 24 hours before handling roughly.

~2.5 hours including glue-up

Weekend 02 of 02 Build the trays, finish, and mount ~11-12 hrs total

Pick up the basswood from Iffland, or unbox the Rockler shipment if you went online. Lay all blanks flat for an hour to acclimate before cutting.

30 min

Cut all tray parts. This is the highest cut count of the build. Set the miter saw stop block once per dimension and run the cuts in batches: all small long walls, then all small short walls, then bottoms, then medium, then large. 92 cuts total. Label each batch with painter's tape so they do not get mixed.

~3 hours

Drill finger cutouts in the front walls. For each tray's front wall (the 3.7 in or 5.7 in or 11.5 in piece), mark the cutout center 1.5 in up from the bottom edge. Use the 1 in Forstner bit on a backup board. Drill straight through, then slightly chamfer the inside edge with sandpaper so it does not catch on fingers.

~1 hour

Assemble trays. For each tray: glue the bottom to one long wall, add the two short walls, then close with the second long wall. Brad-nail at each joint. The walls overlap the bottom, not the other way around, so the tray sits flat on a shelf. Build all 18 trays in batches of 6. Wipe glue squeeze-out immediately with a damp rag.

~3 hours

Sand to 320 grit, dust everything down. Light pass on every surface. Pay attention to tray rims, those are the parts your fingers will touch every day.

~75 min

Apply tung oil. Wipe on a thin coat with a clean rag. Let sit 30 minutes, wipe off any residue that has not soaked in. Cure 24 hours, then a second coat. Tung oil takes a couple days to fully cure but the warm honey color shows up immediately. Skip this step if you want raw light wood, basswood and birch both look good unfinished.

~45 min active, 24-48 hr cure

Cut and mount the French cleat. Rip both cleat strips at 45 deg. If you do not have a table saw, ask Iffland to do this when you pick up the panel, or use a circular saw with the blade tilted to 45 deg. Glue and brad-nail the upper cleat to the back of the cabinet about 2 in below the top edge. Locate at least 2 wall studs with the stud finder, mark them. Drive the lower cleat to the studs through the cabinet's expected position. Hang the cabinet onto its mate. The angled mating faces lock it in place.

~90 min

Load it up. Sharpies and gel pens in the top row. Paint pens and brush pens in the middle. Colored pencil sets in the bottom row. Adjust by use frequency over the first week. Most-grabbed at desk-height, less-used up top.

15 min

Item	Low	High
1/2-inch Baltic birch ply, 4x4 ft panel	$45	$65
1/4-inch basswood blanks x 5	$75	$100
3/8-inch basswood blank x 1	$22	$30
Glue, screws, sandpaper (brad nails owned)	$21	$21
Pure tung oil, 16 oz	$28	$28
Forstner bit (one-time tool, used many builds)	$12	$12
Bar clamps, 12 in · 4-pack (one-time tool)	$40	$40
Brad nailer, 18ga (one-time tool)	$65	$65
DIY total range	$308	$361
Materials only, tools excluded	$191	$244
Custom millwork, comparable size and quality	$450	$750

The $117 in tools (Forstner, clamps, nailer) is a one-time spend that earns back across this and the next several Manor builds. Materials-only is what this specific project costs going forward once those tools are in your kit. The $450 to $750 millwork comparison is what an Etsy-style maker would charge for a comparable wall organizer, since no small shop quotes work this small.

What Could Go Wrong Failure Modes

Basswood walls flex when colored pencils are loaded. A 11.5 in wide tray of 1/4-inch basswood with 30+ pencils inside will bow over time. The cut list specifies 3/8-inch basswood for the large trays for this reason. Do not substitute back to 1/4-inch thinking it will be lighter, the failure mode is bowed bottoms and cracked walls within a year.

Drywall-only mounting will pull off the wall. Loaded with pens, the unit weighs 8 to 12 lb. Mounted to drywall anchors alone, it will work for a few months and then sag or pull. The French cleat must hit at least 2 studs. Use the stud finder, mark with painter's tape, drive #10 x 2.5 in screws into solid wood. Drywall anchors are a backup for the cleat ends only.

Front wall finger cutout drilled too low. If you mark the 1 in Forstner cut at the bottom of the wall instead of 1.5 in up, the cutout breaks through the bottom edge and the tray's structural integrity is compromised. Mark every front wall before drilling. Confirm the cutout is fully bordered before pulling the trigger.

Tray fits too tight in its compartment, will not lift cleanly. Plan 1/8 in of clearance on every side of every tray inside its compartment. Basswood and ply both expand slightly with humidity. A tray that fit perfectly in the dry workshop binds in a humid kitchen-adjacent room in summer. Build in the clearance.

From The Finish Carpenter

This is a lot of small joinery. 18 trays, each with five pieces, is 90 separate parts to cut and 72 joints to glue. Batch your work. Cut all the same dimension at once. Glue 6 trays at a time. The build feels long if you treat each tray as its own project, fast if you treat them as a production run.

From The Studio Designer

Do not lock in tray contents on day one. Load it intuitively, work for two weeks, then move trays around based on which ones you actually grab most. The most-used trays should land at chest height where your hand naturally rests. Reorganize again every quarter.

From The Ergonomic Strategist

Mount the bottom of the cabinet at 30 in above the floor. That puts the colored-pencil row at desk surface height when you are seated, and the top row at chest-to-shoulder height. Reach is comfortable across the full unit without standing or stretching.

Devil's Advocate

18 trays with three sizes is a complex first version. A faster path: build one row of 6 small trays as a prototype, mount it, use it for two weeks. Confirm the modular concept actually serves you before committing to 90 parts of basswood. If the prototype works, scale up with confidence. If it does not, you have spent one weekend instead of two.

Final Notes

This is not a project that needs permits, inspections, or a contractor. It is a craft build that happens to live on a wall. Keep it that way. Do not over-engineer the hardware, do not substitute pricier woods, do not make it permanent. The whole point of modular trays is that the system stays light on its feet.

Once it is mounted, the work it does for you is daily. You will touch it every time you sit down to draw, write, or sketch. That makes it worth the two weekends.