DIY Decorative Boxes

I saved this box and another one similar to it because I knew they would be useful for something eventually. They originally housed Christmas tool gift sets purchased last year. They are slightly different in size with clear plastic covers and magnetic closures.


For the project I first removed the plastic covers with a butter knife and then removed all the stickers and glue. I used goo gone and paint/household scrapper. It was time consuming and messy but they came off with minimal damage. I covered the parts of the box that did get ripped during the removal with a little bit of Mod Podge.

The next step was to paint the boxes. I used cheap acrylic paint, about a $1/bottle at Walmart, and some cheap foam brushes to apply it, they were $0.97 at Walmart. This picture (left top) is after the first coat of white paint, I ended up doing 2-3 coats total of the white on the outside of the box and the lid. On the inside of the box I did one coat of the white and then two coats of the green.


This (left bottom) is after the final paint coats. I knew I would be covering the lids and outsides of the boxes with fabric so I didn't worry about the white being a little streaky. I made sure that the insides of the boxes were totally green before I stopped adding paint coats, though, the insides would not be covered with anything.

I picked up two fabric squares from Joann's a couple months ago. I didn't know what I would use them for but I thought they looked pretty so I grabbed them. They were about $2 each? Maybe. I used Mod Podge to adhere the fabric to the boxes. I used squares and strips to cover each section of each of the boxes, I folded the pieces around the box like I was wrapping a present. I reattached the plastic covers and glued the fabric around them. I used Mod Podge exclusively for all the gluing and attaching for this project. I think that the glue gun that I was too lazy to pull out would have made a stronger bond than the Mod Podge. I think that the Mod Podge will hold up against the lightwear that these boxes will see.

The final step of the project was to apply some gold glitter tape to cover the seam where the fabric met the green interior of the boxes (right). The tape was just an off brand that I bought for $0.97 at Walmart. It has the downside of not being very sticky, it didn't adhere to the boxes incredibly well but it is staying for now. In the future, if it becomes a problem, I may use the glue gun to attach it more securely.

I really like the way that these turned out! They are unique, I really like the fabric and colors, and they were very cheap! This was my first time working with Mod Podge, it was very messy and it did darken the fabric which makes it look a little dirty. It doesn't dry perfectly clear! The original magnetic closures aren't strong enough to connect through the additional layers of fabric so the final stage of this project will be to purchase new magnets and attach them to the boxes.

This project was super easy and fun to do while watching a movie or whatever. I am currently using one of the boxes to hold my eye products (left) I know, five mascaras is totally a necessity (I only actually paid for two of them though!) The other box holds my lip products, lip sticks and lip liners and all that good stuff. I think they are so super cute and handy! I may add dividers at some point. Or convert them to jewelry holders. They are super versatile and totally handy.

My apologies for the yucky iPhone pictures!