I completed this very small project slowly over a few days last week. I had an old box that had been sitting around the house for ages, too ugly to use for anything special but kind of too nice to throw out. Lately I've been trying to become more organised around the house and I'm trying to start by using stuff I already own to resolve `trouble spots' for clutter. It kind of kills two birds with one stone: it reduces the stuff sitting around to be used `one day' (which is clutter in itself) and it also means I can fix a household problem for zilch, which is always handy. In this case, I'm hoping this box will help me with a daily organisational battle in our household: homework!
The box was actually the packaging for a kindergarten fundraiser - it contained a ready-made stash of birthday and greeting cards (not a bad idea for disorganised types like myself who are usually realising they don't have a card 5 minutes before a party!). Sorry, once again I forgot to take a photo until midway through the project, but suffice to say, the colours were a bit off, especially for its new intended purpose. What's that, you ask? To corral Will's homework into one place and to store the three items we're always searching for at homework time: his lead pencil, sharpener and eraser!
This box is just for us (nobody else will be looking at it unless they want to do homework duty), but I hope that prettying it up will make us more likely to use it. So I just picked out some leftover chevron fabric to spruce it up a bit. This fairly heavy fabric had the advantage too of not being at all transparent, so I didn't have to worry about the colour of the box underneath showing through.
First up, a disclaimer: I didn't really give this project enough thought before I started. I trimmed the fabric too closely when I cut it out when I really needed to approach it more like covering a book, leaving enough `leftover' fabric to fold over each edge of the lid.
The purple/pink/blue you can see lining the inside is what the exterior looked like (except with promotional logos and photos as well). In the far background, you can see a magnetic lip that adheres to hold the box closed.
I took this photo a bit late (after adding one of the end pieces) but it's meant to show how for the base and lid I used just one continuous piece of fabric. I used spray adhesive on both surfaces to adhere this piece, wrapping it around each curve, and using a credit card to remove air bubbles. I had to lift the fabric a few times to reposition but it didn't seem to affect the eventual `stick'.
Above you can see the complication of the bottom edge being beveled and jutting out further than the sides - it made it hard to wrap the fabric around and adhere it. Consequently, this edge looks a bit tacky, even after I've added the end fabric piece.
Above is just a close-up to reinforce the tackiness!
For the end pieces, I got smart and used enough fabric so there was plenty to fold over, creating a more secure edge on the inside.
I then used Mod Podge on the turned edges in order to provide some extra adhesion.
Then I used anything I could find (paper clips, pegs, bobby pins) to seal the fabric down. Doesn't look very professional, does it? But it did work!
Classy, huh?
So far I haven't done anything to pretty up the inside! For its purpose it will do for now, unless I get keen in the next few days to go that extra mile.
Here are some final shots:
And one to show it nonchalantly at work on the phone table, hiding the homework mess!
Thanks for stopping by!
