Stylish Storage Containers

     It seems as though I am in constant need of storage containers and storage containers, especially nice looking ones, can cost a fortune in stores.  Because of this, I have become very resourceful when determining what counts as a storage container, finding uses for shoe boxes, plastic ice cream tubs, plastic sour cream cartons, etc.  However, some of these makeshift storage containers can be a bit of an eyesore on their own, so I decided to decorate some of the boxes.  Here are three examples of how you can turn ordinary containers into stylish storage boxes.

Fabric Covered Box

Materials:

*Shoe box

*Fabric to cover the outside of the box (separate pieces needed for the base of the box and the lid of the box)

*Optional: fabric to cover the inside of the box

*Ribbon to decorate the edges

*Adhesive (e.g. hot glue, glues that specify that they will work on fabric)

*Pen

Directions:

*Lay fabric for the outside of the box on a flat surface, with the side you want visible facing the ground. 

*Place the box in the center of the fabric and trace around the bottom of the box. 

*Then trace each of the four sides of the box extending from the base like this:

*Extend the length of the side pieces by half an inch. 

*Follow the same procedure for the lid of the box.  If you are planning on covering the inside of the box, follow the same procedure as for the outside of the box, except don’t extend the length of the fabric on the sides; instead you should diminish the length of the fabric by a quarter of an inch or less. 

*Cut out the fabric for the outside of the box. 

*Adhere the bottom of your box to the center of the outside fabric piece, then adhere each side of the fabric to the corresponding side of the box.  Set the box aside to dry. 

*Follow the same procedure for the lid of the box, then set the lid aside to dry.  If you are planning on lining the inside of the box, carefully glue the central part of the inside fabric to the bottom of the box, then affix the fabric to each of the sides.  Follow the same procedure for the lid.  Set aside to dry. 

*If you want to, you can trim the sides of the box with ribbon.

Photo Montage Storage Container

Materials:

*Shoe box or other storage container

*Pictures (can be photographs, drawings, magazine images, etc.)

*Mod Podge

*Paintbrush

*Optional: decorative trimming such as ribbon, lace, beads, etc

Directions:
*Use Mod Podge or other adhesive to stick pictures to the box’s exterior and lid in a manner that you find visually appealing. 

*Decorate box with trimmings, if you so choose

*Once you have adhered all of the pictures and trimming to the box and the lid, brush a thin coat of Mod Podge evenly across the surface of the box and the lid.  Let dry.

*Once the first coat has dried, apply a second coat, then let dry.

*Finally, apply a third coat of Mod Podge.  Let dry.

Rounded Storage Container

Materials:

*Round container (I used a plastic ice cream tub)

*2 sheets of 12x12 patterned paper (may need a different size of paper if your container is significantly bigger or smaller than the one I used)

*2 different kinds of ribbon

*Metallic permanent marker

*Ruler

*Pen

*Scissors

*Mod Podge

*Paintbrush

Directions:

*Measure the height of your container.  If parts of your container jut out more than others, measure from the bottom of the container to the bottom of the part that sticks out. 

*From one of your sheets of patterned paper, cut out two strips that are the same height as your container

*Starting from the center of your first strip of paper, line paper up with the bottom of the ridge that sticks out and adhere the paper to your container.  If your container is not perfectly cylindrical, you will notice that as you move father from the center, your paper will no longer line up with the bottom of the part that sticks out.  That’s okay.  Just keep gluing until you have glued down the whole strip of paper.

*Follow the same procedure for the second strip.

*Once you have adhered both strips of paper to your container, cut off any excess paper that hangs over the bottom of your container. 

*Using the remainder of the paper you cut the strips from, cut out rectangular pieces that will cover up any vertical gaps (i.e. if the two strips of paper did not overlap completely) between the paper and the container.

*Using your paintbrush, coat the paper with a thin layer of Mod Podge, then let dry.  You may wish to apply a second coat after the first has dried.

*Use ribbon to cover up any horizontal gaps (gaps between the bottom of the part that sticks out and the paper)

*Cover the part of the container that sticks out with ribbon or fabric.

*For the lid of the container, cut out a circular piece of paper from your second sheet of patterned paper that will cover the top of the lid.

*Adhere paper to the lid, then coat with a thin layer of Mod Podge and let dry.  You may wish to apply a second coat of Mod Podge after the first has dried.

*Decorate the rim of the lid using the permanent marker.  If the rim has writing or some sort of decoration, you may have to go over the rim with the permanent marker a couple of times to cover up the writing or decoration.

These are just a few possible ideas that you could do, but there are so many more.  Feel free to share your creations with me in the comments section of this post or email them to me at hathaway.amber@gmail.com.  I would love to see them :)

Update (October 2011): here is my most recent decorated storage container, which I made for my campus's Take Back the Night event.  My boyfriend coated the box in purple duct tabe, then I decorated it with tissue paper hearts, glitter, ribbon, wrapping paper, and metallic markers

Another update (July 16, 2012): Here is my latest decorated storage container.  I scraped the label off this plastic ice cream container, then painted it with glitter glue.  To achieve the ombré effect, I painted the entire container with a coat of glitter glue, then, after the first layer dried I painted another coat starting about 1/3 of the way down the container.  Finally, after the second layer dried, I painted a third coat starting about 2/3 of the way down the container.  For the lid, when I scraped off the label I ended up with some white scraps that I thought looked neat, so I just painted over the whole lid using a thick, uneven layer of glitter glue.