Tutorial: Little Storage Drawers

I came across a box from an old phone recently, and thought it would make a nice addition to my storage for little bits and pieces in my studio. If I could find the other one. That wasn't too hard, and neither was putting them together to make a cute little set of drawers.

Here's what you need:

• Some sturdy cardboard boxes that open like drawers
• Glue or double sided sticky tape
• Patterned paper big enough to cover the outside and back
• Handles for your drawers, or ribbon / cord and buttons
• Craft supplies: scissors; guillotine; awl; ruler etc

I started with the handles. From the ribbons and cords that I pulled out to match my chosen paper, I used some rat-tail cord, and cut two 15cm lengths. Mark the centre of the drawers, and make holes using an awl. I had wanted to tie the cord at the front and back, but wasn't left with enough to knot inside the box, so found some buttons that the cord would fit through, and just tied them at the back. You can glue the button to the box with a hot glue gun if you wish. I am still on the lookout for some nice crystal looking handles to replace my cord with, so I didn't stick mine down.

Stick your boxes on top of each other using double sided sticky tape or glue. I used tape, as I didn't want to wait until glue dried. (There's nothing like instant gratification on a project!) Then you need to work out how big you will need to cut your patterned paper. I needed two pieces to go all the way round, as I was using scrapbook paper. Allow enough to overlap for the length, and cut the exact width of your boxes. Cut a piece for the back about 1cm larger all the way round.

Stick your paper on the back of the boxes first, and fold the edges down. Cut each corner so that you can fold the edges around the sides.

Fold crease lines into your other pieces of paper at the corners of your boxes, and place tape on the fold lines and around the edges, as close to the edge as you can get. Stick the paper down on the bottom of the drawers first, then the piece over the top. If you have any edges of paper sticking out, trim them off with sharp paper scissors.

Put your drawers back in, and you're done!

This post should not be construed as an endorsement for HTC phones. I don't even use an HTC phone anymore, but I don't like to throw any potentially useful boxes away, much to my husband's chagrin.