Boxes and Baskets

I really like the mixture of storage boxes and baskets that I’ve assembled in my craft room! Here’s a quick tour…

On top of the wall of yarn:

On top of the pie safe:

A decorative box that was once filled with video tapes now holds all of my straight knitting needles.

And on top of the two book cases:

So far, so good, but now I’m reconsidering the fabric slipcover idea for my paper boxes.

I’ve thought more about how much upholstery fabric it would take to cover all my boxes and how much that would cost. I considered using the floral upholstery fabric I have *, but it doesn’t go with the oriental rug in my craft room. Besides, that material’s already destined for several projects in the library/office where the matching chair will eventually be.   * Scroll about half-way down in the linked post to see fabric, chair and rug.

The only other large piece of heavy fabric I have is Very Stiff navy denim, which doesn’t appeal to me for this use.

When it occurred to me that I could use regular brush-on paint for the boxes, instead of the spray paint I considered earlier, I thought, “Now, there’s a reasonable solution!” And… with no volatile chemicals involved, I can paint the boxes now, indoors.

So I’m living with this little burgundy drawer on one of my shelves, letting it help me decide how I feel about burgundy paper boxes. You see…  I have about half a gallon of burgundy satin paint. According to the custom color label on the can’s lid, it was mixed for us in February of 2000! It would be nice to finally use the rest of it.

I think burgundy looks pretty good with my ‘cherry’ bookcases!

Oh, on the shelf below the drawer, you can see part of the lid on a wooden bread box. (Kennedy’s saltine Biscuit) It took up too much valuable space on our limited kitchen counter and landed in the attic, but it looks right at home here!

I got a new idea from some storage boxes I saw in JoAnns. The boxes were darker than their lids, a look I liked, and each box had an attractive leather strap handle on one end (like this style of handle, although these simpler ones appeal to me too). Handles would make it easier to pull boxes down off the shelves and I could make matching leather label pockets. Together they would dress-up painted paper boxes!

I just happen to have some leather pieces:

My brother shared the ‘pages’ from a leather furniture sample book with my sister and me. There are so many colors to choose from – I could even put pink handles on my burgundy boxes!! lol. Each piece is about fifteen inches square, large enough for many handles and label pockets.