Get Organized! Recycle Your Diaper Boxes Into Storage Boxes

I have a girlfriend that is absolutely amazing at organizing. I feel like I’m constantly asking her for ideas on how to get my house together. Last time I was over at her house I noticed some bright colored storage boxes stacked up in her playroom. There was green with camouflage trim, red with mustache trim, various animal prints, neon colors and even Hello Kitty! I asked her where she got such a variety of cute boxes. She said, “Girl! I duct taped a bunch of leftover diaper and wipe boxes!” All I could think was, I have a TON of those boxes floating around my house! And my eight year old has a TON of the bright colored duct tape! Perfect no cost project for me to try and to help get my stuff organized! Score!!

You will need:

2 rolls of duct tape

1 card board box

Scissors (optional)

I thought I would try the boxes to help contain some of my daughters mess in the basement. I decided to use baby wipe boxes because it fit nicely into the cube storage bins that I have in my rec room. I grabbed two rolls of duct tape that I thought would be cute together (hot pink animal print with silver and solid purple with a pink, blue and purple tie-dye) and I followed my friend’s idea and decided to cover the top 2/3 of the box with one color and the bottom 1/3 with the coordinating color. I started with the flaps at the top of the box. I taped all the edges first and then filled in the middle. Next I taped the sides of the box. I started at the top and worked my way down. I stopped the first color at about 2/3 of the way down. As I finished one side and moved over to the next I overlapped the edges by about 1/8 of an inch and made sure to smooth them out so they would be less noticeable. Once I was finished with the first color I switched to the second color and filled in the bottom 1/3 of the box as well as covering the bottom. After everything was covered I pushed the flaps into the box for a more finished look. Overall, one box took me about fifteen minutes to complete. I didn’t even need scissors; I just tore the tape apart! I did not use the entire roll of either color of tape either. One thing I did notice was that when I used the solid color purple tape it was a little see through (the solid silver was fine as were the prints). I think on my next box I may paint it first before I cover it with the tape. That should take care of being able to see through the solid colors. I would recommend painting the box especially if you plan on using white or a light color duct tape. I stuck with a pretty basic pattern for my boxes, but I would think you could go totally crazy with any kind of design or pattern you’d like.  It would be fun to decorate the box with decals, rhinestones, stickers or anything else that floats your boat! Have fun with it!

As I mentioned this craft was free for me, but if you don’t have empty diaper boxes handy, you could use any cardboard box that is lying around, whatever you think will fit your needs. You can find the colored duct tape at craft stores and stores like Wal-Mart and Target. There are various brands available and the prices that I’ve seen generally range from about three to five dollars per roll.

I also ended up making labels for the outside of the boxes with my large round hole punch and my Xyron sticker maker. My daughter loves the boxes and now wants a few to coordinate with her bedroom too!