New Year's Resolution: Get Organized!

Aside from losing weight, it seems like the next most common New Year's Resolution is to get organized. Need a little help?

The current trend is to buy coordinated boxes to hide the clutter, but these can be expensive and may not come in colors you like. This project uses a common office waste product—boxes that hold pre-printed letterhead—to help you bring elegant and affordable order to your home.

These instructions include measurements for a standard-sized stationery box. If you choose a different box, you’ll need to measure its dimensions and do the math yourself.

What you need:

• Stationery box
• Wrapping paper
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Paste
• Waxed paper

What to do:

1. Cut two pieces of wrapping paper—26 11/16” across by 29 3/16” tall for the base, and 15 11/16” across by 18 1/4” tall for the top--either from the same roll or from coordinating rolls. Be sure to use a straight edge, and if necessary a T-square, to keep your cuts square.
2. On the larger sheet, draw a line 8 1/2” in from each margin. The center rectangle marks where the box bottom will go. Cut along the lines to remove the square from each corner.
3. Apply a thin and even coat of Yes! brand paste to the center square of the larger piece of paper. (Tip: An old credit card works great as an applicator.) Position the box on the glued area and smooth the paper to remove air bubbles.
4. Lay down a drop cloth of waxed paper and apply paste to one of the short flaps. Press the paper firmly against the outside of the box, and then fold the remaining paper to the inside of the box. Burnish again to remove air bubbles. Repeat with the remaining flaps, being sure to change out the waxed paper each time. (Note: If you’re worried about exposed corners, cut your shorter flaps 1” wider and glue these wings in place underneath the longer flaps.)
5. Now finish the box top. On the remaining sheet, draw lines 2 7/8” from each margin. Cut out the corner sections and follow the steps three and four to adhere the paper to the lid.

(It's no secret that I love recycling, and this post is no exception. I originally posted it in November 2007, but I wanted to share it again since I felt it was especially timely.)

Elegant organization

Here's a preview of my December column for The Satellite. A big trend these days is to buy coordinated boxes to organize household clutter. Rather than buy them, why not make them? This project uses the stationery boxes that used to pile up next to the recycling bins at my old office. I simply recovered them with wrapping paper that matches my decor scheme. Voila! Elegant organization.

Here are the step-by-step instructions.

1) Cut two pieces of wrapping paper—26 11/16” across by 29 3/16” tall for the base, and 15 11/16” across by 18 1/4” tall for the top--either from the same roll or from coordinating rolls. Be sure to use a straight edge, and if necessary a T-square, to keep your cuts square.

2) On the larger sheet, draw a line 8 1/2” in from each margin. The center rectangle marks where the box bottom will go. Cut along the lines to remove the square from each corner.

3) Apply a thin and even coat of Yes! brand paste to the center square of the larger piece of paper. (Tip: An old credit card works great as an applicator.) Position the box on the glued area and smooth the paper to remove air bubbles.

4) Lay down a drop cloth of waxed paper and apply paste to one of the short flaps. Press the paper firmly against the outside of the box, and then fold the remaining paper to the inside of the box. Burnish again to remove air bubbles. Repeat with the remaining flaps, being sure to change out the waxed paper each time. (Note: If you’re worried about exposed corners, cut your shorter flaps 1” wider and glue these wings in place underneath the longer flaps.)

5) Now finish the box top. On the remaining sheet, draw lines 2 7/8” from each margin. Cut out the corner sections and follow the steps three and four to adhere the paper to the lid. For a final touch, cut two pieces of paper to fit inside the box top (9 13/16” by 12 3/8”) and bottom (9 9/16” by 12 1/16”). Paste in place.