• Home
  • about emily
  • before + after
  • HGTV + DIY Network
  • good press
  • contact
  • Let’s Organize These Posts:

    • Art Attack
    • Backyard
    • Barn
    • Basement
    • Bathroom
    • Beach
    • Bedrooms
    • Being Thrifty
    • Business-y
    • Buying and Renting and Selling
    • Casual Celebrations
    • Closets
    • Curb Appeal
    • Dainty Details
    • Deck
    • Decor
    • Dining Room
    • DIY
    • Dog-Related
    • Entryway
    • Flooring
    • For the Kids
    • Garage
    • Gardening
    • Helping The Economy
    • HGTV + DIY Network Projects
    • Holiday-Related Projects
    • Home Safety
    • Kitchen
    • Lighting
    • Living Room
    • Merry Travels
    • Office Space
    • Organized
    • Other Pads
    • Outdoor Living
    • Scooter Fun
    • Stairwell
    • Sunroom
    • Supporting Sponsors
    • The Art Room
    • Tools
    • Uncategorizable
    • Wedding
    • Windows
    • Work-pads
  • Search

  • Hi, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle.

    You can find me writing for HGTV and DIY Network, follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

    Thanks for visiting!

  • BROWSE POSTS BY CATEGORY:

    • Art Attack (7)
    • Backyard (92)
    • Barn (8)
    • Basement (27)
    • Bathroom (43)
    • Beach (13)
    • Bedrooms (73)
    • Being Thrifty (53)
    • Business-y (12)
    • Buying and Renting and Selling (23)
    • Casual Celebrations (36)
    • Closets (17)
    • Curb Appeal (44)
    • Dainty Details (8)
    • Deck (23)
    • Decor (286)
    • Dining Room (37)
    • DIY (577)
    • Dog-Related (24)
    • Entryway (59)
    • Flooring (58)
    • For the Kids (32)
    • Garage (17)
    • Gardening (70)
    • Helping The Economy (30)
    • HGTV + DIY Network Projects (283)
    • Holiday-Related Projects (80)
    • Home Safety (12)
    • Kitchen (83)
    • Lighting (31)
    • Living Room (77)
    • Merry Travels (21)
    • Office Space (21)
    • Organized (41)
    • Other Pads (14)
    • Outdoor Living (12)
    • Scooter Fun (8)
    • Stairwell (20)
    • Sunroom (22)
    • Supporting Sponsors (43)
    • The Art Room (3)
    • Tools (43)
    • Uncategorizable (1)
    • Wedding (28)
    • Windows (14)
    • Work-pads (10)
  • Search

  • Pages

    • blog
    • Good Press: Special Features, Freelance Projects, and Long-Term Clients
    • Privacy Policy
    • about emily
    • before + after
      • before + after – transforming my first home
      • before + after, our current home
    • contact me
    • choose a badge and share the merrypad.com love
  • Home
  • about emily
  • before + after
  • HGTV + DIY Network
  • good press
  • contact

Secret Storage (Thanks To My New Blue Shoes)

January 16, 2012

Little bit of style, lotta-bit of resourcefulness happening in this post.

During one of my Christmas shopping excursions, I happened upon the Anthropologie sale (where it was 50% off already-clearance merch). I found me the perfect little pair of cerulean blue leather leather flats, originally priced at $98 but reduced with all discounts to a sweet 15-dolla. That’s $15.00 American cash. That’s it.  Soft and lush and perfectly my size (8.5) and how could I not buy them when I have a whole bunch of summer weddings to attend this year? It’s the year of bluesy feet. I mean, according to me, and probably only me.

New blue leather flats, squeal!

Bonus, they came packaged in a sweet little lemony box with magnet closure, practically worth the $15 itself. After I removed the shoes (and pranced around the house) the empty box went straight on the bookshelf so that I could adore it and figure out what it’d become.

Once a shoebox, now a size 8.5 yellow book.

Of course, while in that above photo it was shown on the dining room built-in shelves, I knew it would really work much better on the shelving in the living room that’s organized in a very rainbowesque pattern; I was lacking yellows when I originally showed you my little collection.

So I got busy making it pretty, first removing the only really sales-y label, the size sticker along the spine. Most peeled off cleanly, and I dabbed a little Goo Gone on the stubborn spots to clear it right up.

Sticker residue? I love me some Goo Gone for situations like this.

Because it was a large + hollow volume, I decided to maximize its upcycled potential and use to to organize my overflowing assortment of note cards/thank you cards/special occasion cards. A girl has many kinds of cards (and yet still has to write her Christmas Thank You notes, sorry fam + friends). There was plenty of space inside the pretty box to just toss everything inside it and call it a day, but I wanted to add a little pocket to prevent the cards from getting unwieldy.

I used a piece of scrap mat board (from yesterday’s Kid’s Art College) and used a utility knife to lightly score the surface (but not cut all the way through the stock).

Lightly scoring the mat paper with a utility knife.

Once scored, it should fold easily without tearing apart (mine did, at least). Reminder: Paint fingernails.

Folding mat paper with a simple scoring technique.

I measured the width of the yellow box and scored the other end of the mat paper too so that it would fit in the base easily to serve as a little folder, but before I actually installed it I decided to wrap the plain white stock with a piece of coloring book paper from my favorite hidden-from-the-real-child Anthropologie coloring book.

Coloring book sold at Anthropologie, purchased at 50% off a few months ago.

It’s the same book that I used when I created new shades for the living room driftwood lamps; the book is filled with many fun and bold patterns on ivory stock, like these:

Coloring book pattern.

This time around, I selected this print:

Little pop of pattern lining the inside of the upcycled shoebox.

Cut to size, I glued the paper in place around the edges of the pre-measured and scored piece of mat paper. Shown here, I trimmed the piece of paper long enough to hang over the back an extra inch; it’s glued tight back there, especially where it’ll be folded inward at the corner.

Wrapping the paper around the backside of the mat paper.

With the paper glued to the mat board, I folded the scored edges inward and attached the edges to the standing walls of the yellow shoebox book.

Fitting the little mat paper folder into place in the shoebox.

I made another little shelf on the top too, not that it’s big enough for cards (it isn’t deep enough, specifically), but I thought it would be a good place for other things I’d want on hand when I’m writing thank you notes, like an extra book of stamps, or special sparkly pens. I did not cover it with special paper, thought at the time that it would look cleaner with just the  pattern only on the bottom half, but that’s totally open for creative interpretation, whatevskis.

Glue drying. Little shoebox book has a whole new life.

Once dried, I put it to the test. It held a lot.

Filling the new folder in the upcycled shoebox.

I forgot I had these ABC stencils (something I found at a garage sale and have been holding onto), but they were tucked amongst my note cards and happen to fit perfectly on the little top shelf for now.

Random ABC stencils from a garage sale.

Little green doggie from this summer yard sale is just holding the book cover open while I photograph. No significance. And if you’re wondering what the light green tag on the inside of the cover is, it seems to be a security sticker, but I haven’t really tried to remove it yet; seems like it’s about to tear the yellow finish off when I force it, so I’ll leave it as is because it’s not hurting anyone.

Refinished shoebox. New thank you note storage!

Closed, it fits perfectly in the yellow section of my rainbow-y bookshelf.

Closed, secretly hiding all of my note cards. Woohoo!

One last thing, reorganizing these thank you notes actually allowed me to eliminate the two remaining wicker IKEA baskets from the EXPEDIT shelf and give me a little more space for colorful book spines. Also, the magazine racks on that I added after our last IKEA excursion really helped to clean up the shelf, so the whole she-bang went from looking like this:

Rainbow!

To this:

Updated rainbow book storage!

File rainbows and blue leather shoes under things that make me happy.

What’d you guys do this weekend?

Share

Decor  / DIY  / Living Room  / Organized

Emily
I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. I've been a freelancer writer for 10+ years and you can find my work on popular home and garden sites, like HGTV.com. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note.

2 Comments


Ashley @ DesignBuildLove
January 18, 2012 at 6:22 pm
Reply

First… I LOVE your shoes. Second… great upcycle of the box! It’s so pretty that it was dying to be reused for sure!



Kim @ One Project Closer
January 20, 2012 at 6:27 pm
Reply

Hey Emily! This looks great! I agree that the magnetic box is worth the money just on its own! Thanks for linking it up to our {very first} party!



Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • HI, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

    Thanks for visiting!

  • Instagram

    merrypad

    Merrypad by Emily Fazio
    Instagram post 17902304861708711 Instagram post 17902304861708711
    Highly recco mining those #herkimerdiamonds ✌️ Highly recco mining those #herkimerdiamonds ✌️
    Pt. 2: Well before Halloween, the last of the garl Pt. 2: Well before Halloween, the last of the garlic went into the home garden: 10 rows [L>R] 6 whole Nootka Rose as an experiment, 3x8 Mennonite-grown cloves from Aman’s, and 6x8 (and, I think, total 112? notes are cryptic) “normal.”
#gardennotes #growinggarlic #garden2023 #whatisnormal #merrypadathome
    Out of sight but [documented so it’s] not out of Out of sight but [documented so it’s] not out of mind! #garden2024 kicks off with my favorite biennial: elephant garlic! 15 cloves planted from small, to medium, to enormous. #gardennotes
    Annual garlic notes for #garden2023, pt. 1: this i Annual garlic notes for #garden2023, pt. 1: this is getting ooc, and I love it. 👩‍🌾🧑‍🌾

🧄 65% of the planting is in a new plot in the country. 🧄 Seeing if NR grows bigger with more sunlight. 🧄 Big @chasefarms cloves from 2021 were really productive in our home garden; can’t wait to see how they can show up next year in the new space. 🧄

Hand-turned a small bed, but big thanks to my sister, who rolled into town just in time to help me double its size (and did not complain once).
    One straggler from #garlic2021 debuted with 7 stal One straggler from #garlic2021 debuted with 7 stalks and 7 scapes, and I can’t wait to see this mammoth looks like when it’s pulled next month. #garlic2022 

Also, fierce springtime performance by parsley, chamomile, and self-seeded cilantro.
    Annual garlic notes #garden2022 ~315 cloves total Annual garlic notes #garden2022
~315 cloves total
50 in new, unfenced garden
Still need thick mulch on everything
Did a terrible job tracking varieties when I harvested, so it’s all a mix of hardneck now 😒
Added some big cloves from @chasefarms and look forward to adding some @fruition_seeds in #garden2023 when @porterfarmscsa delivers.
    Load More... follow emily: @merrypad



  • Like Us On Facebook

    Facebook Pagelike Widget



  • Popular Posts

    • How to fix an IKEA drawer. The Easy Fix For Broken IKEA Drawers 66.9k views
    • DIY sideboard rehab. 7 Steps for Restoring an Old Midcentury Sideboard Buffet 56.8k views
    • How to design and make a barn quilt. How to Make Your Own Barn Quilt 50k views
    • How to hang art on brick surfaces using specialty clips. The Easy Way to Hang Art on Brick or Stone 40.1k views
    • DIY driveway removal. How to Remove an Old Asphalt Driveway 35.1k views
    • Our DIY flagstone patio. Building a Flagstone Patio in One Day 32.8k views
    • Tips for dying pasta different colors, and a Halloween Recipe for the kids. How to Dye Pasta Different Colors (Halloween Recipe) 32.5k views
    • Fix an ikea dresser drawer. Life Support For An IKEA Dresser 29.7k views
    • Goodbye, gold fireplace covering. Less Is More: How to Remove a Fireplace Surround 29.5k views
    • After: Custom wooden garden fence. Designing a Durable Wooden Fence For Our Beautiful Backyard Garden 23k views



  • BROWSE POSTS BY CATEGORY:

    • Art Attack (7)
    • Backyard (92)
    • Barn (8)
    • Basement (27)
    • Bathroom (43)
    • Beach (13)
    • Bedrooms (73)
    • Being Thrifty (53)
    • Business-y (12)
    • Buying and Renting and Selling (23)
    • Casual Celebrations (36)
    • Closets (17)
    • Curb Appeal (44)
    • Dainty Details (8)
    • Deck (23)
    • Decor (286)
    • Dining Room (37)
    • DIY (577)
    • Dog-Related (24)
    • Entryway (59)
    • Flooring (58)
    • For the Kids (32)
    • Garage (17)
    • Gardening (70)
    • Helping The Economy (30)
    • HGTV + DIY Network Projects (283)
    • Holiday-Related Projects (80)
    • Home Safety (12)
    • Kitchen (83)
    • Lighting (31)
    • Living Room (77)
    • Merry Travels (21)
    • Office Space (21)
    • Organized (41)
    • Other Pads (14)
    • Outdoor Living (12)
    • Scooter Fun (8)
    • Stairwell (20)
    • Sunroom (22)
    • Supporting Sponsors (43)
    • The Art Room (3)
    • Tools (43)
    • Uncategorizable (1)
    • Wedding (28)
    • Windows (14)
    • Work-pads (10)





  • a little bit of everything, friends, DIY, and inspiration

    • Dadand.com < My husband and his BFF
    • HGTV
  • Some Legal

    Merrypad incorporates the occasional affiliate link to Amazon.com and Minted; we link to many other websites and products, but if it is in context of a paid sponsorship, it is always noted as such. Please review the privacy policy and contact me if you have any additional questions.

    Theme customized by Pete Fazio Creative, the guy from dadand.com.


© Copyright Merrypad