How to Make Your Own Cardboard Chest
Help your kids to make their own treasure chest out of cardboard. You will be doing some environmentally friendly recycling while creating something they can use for years to come to store their own special treasures. Making attractive chests out of cardboard boxes is a cheap activity and, once you and the kids have become good at it, perhaps you can move on to doing similar "make-overs" on bigger boxes and use them for household storage.
Things You'll Need
- Cardboard box with lift-off lid
- Clear packing tape
- Large sheet of cardboard
- Ruler
- Scissors
- Brown, wood-colored, spray paint
- White glue
- Newspaper
- Wood-grained, self-adhesive, contact paper
- Skewer
- Cable ties
- Wire shelving liner
Instructions
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Reinforce the folds and corners of your box and lid, inside and out, with clear packing tape.
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2
Measure the width and length of the lid. Cut a sheet of the thinner cardboard the same length and double the width.
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Carry the box, lid and spray paint outside. Spray the inside of the box and lid and leave them to dry for a few minutes in the fresh air.
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4
Take your box lid and the thinner piece of card that you cut out earlier. Glue the thinner card onto the lid with the extra double-width bending out to create an arch along the length. Stick 1/2 inch of the card up and under the lid at either side for neatness.
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Stand the end of the arched lid onto a piece of the thinner card and draw around it. Cut the shape out. Do this for both ends.
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Stuff the arched lid with rolled-up sheets of newspaper so that it will not collapse.
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Tape the cut-out ends onto the arched lid. Secure them all of the way around.
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Make strips of your wood-grained self-adhesive contact paper the width of the planks that would have been used to make a chest the size of your box. Cut lengths to fit the long and short sides of the box and fix them on from bottom to top in alternating directions. This will give the appearance of separate planks due to the change in the grain. Cover the lid lengthwise in these "planks" and cut some short ones to fit vertically on the ends of the arched lid. Make these slightly longer than necessary and, lining them up with the bottom, fix them into place and cut around the curve at the top.
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Use your judgment to decide how many "hinges" your box will need and mark equidistant points for them along the length of the lid halfway up the rim that sits on the box.
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Push a skewer through the pencil marks to make holes.
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Put the lid on the box and push the pencil tip through each hole to make a corresponding mark on the box. Make holes with the skewer at these marks.
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Secure the lid onto the box using cable ties. Thread them from the inside of the box and back in through the holes on the lid. Tighten the ties to the extent that the lid will open and close easily, but that the lid doesn't hang too loosely off the box when opened.
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Stick 2-inch wide wire shelving liner strips over the cable ties, inside and outside of the box, of the appropriate length to give the appearance of metal hinges. More of the liner can be used for pretend locks and reinforcements.
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Tips & Warnings
These directions are for a traditional style chest but you can use any decoration you like, or have around the house. Larger decorated and reinforced cardboard boxes can be used for storage.
Use protective goggles and clothing for paint spraying.
References
- Photo Credit treasure chest image by sumos from Fotolia.com
