Mail Center
| February 22, 2011 | Posted by Jessie under Build it Yourself, Crafty Things, Kitchen |
Right now all of our mail goes into a bowl. The bowl is on the corner of our counter and we throw it there and stuff gets mixed up and we lose papers and it isn’t the best organizing system. So to fix that problem, I was originally going to buy some cute baskets like these from Ballard:
But instead of forking over the cash, I decided I would make my own. Well, I decided Mike would make some for me. We have some scrap wood in our garage that Mike cut to size and nailed together for me. We used 1×4 pieces of wood and 2×2 pieces of wood. He used two for the front and one for the sides and then added one for the bottom. Here is what it looked like:
I then covered them with this cute polka dot fabric. I didn’t really have any scientific method to covering it, I basically tried to wrap it like a present. Folding and stapling and cutting in a few places until it was covered to my liking. It doesn’t matter what the back looks like because that will be against the wall so don’t worry about it being too perfect.
Next, we added some little hangy things (what is the name for these?) and put some nails in the wall to hang them from.
Then we made sure they were level and hung them. I left 5 inch gaps between the boxes when I hung them to leave room for the mail/papers we will store there.
The last thing we did was put a nail on the front and hang little chalkboards for bin labels. Ya know that cute little dog I talk about all the time? Well sometimes he does things that aren’t that cute. One of those things? We blame him for being one chalkboard short. The culprit has been known to eat things and since I had 3 chalkboards laying on the desk yesterday and can only find 2 today…yep, we’re blamin him. So my middle box is missing it’s label but it’s fine for now. I can always get another one for $1.00 next time I’m at Joann’s.
Anyway, here’s the final product:
Cute, huh?
Total cost for the project: $5. I had a coupon for Joann’s and got this fabric for $3.50 and then found the chalkboards there too for $1.50. Cheap, easy, and functional.
I would love to hear about any of your DIY organizing solutions!
I LOVE this! SO very clever!
Thanks, Ashley! That is a huge compliment coming from you:)
Hi Jessie!! I love your blog!! This is so cute!! I am going to try to do a variation of this with magnets for the side of our fridge!
Oooh great idea with the magnets! Let me know how it turns out! Thanks for checking out the blog:)
[...] a couple little metal buckets that we will use for pens, etc. You can read about our mail center here. Here is a close-up of the [...]
Not so sure how i found your web site but your encouragement toward financial freedom is awesome. AS for these - they are so gorgeous - not only cheaper than buying, but so much prettier! Yay!
Thanks, Clare!
I love this! I was actually surprised by it. When I saw the title I thought that it was going to be those storage bins ( like the wicker ones from target) and then I saw it hanging on the wall holding papers and such. Genius. I’m going to try one when we get our home office finished. Might try the same technique but build a storage bin
Thanks Melissa! Good luck to you:)
I LOVE these! Going to use some downstairs for by the phone and some for the office. Any idea what the measurements were for the wood?
Hi Nichelle! The width of the boxes is about 10 inches. We used 1×4 pieces of wood and 2×2 pieces of wood. I hope that helps!
I was lucky to find this imperfectlypolished.com web site. Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, it’s a useful info and I like learning more on this. If possible, would you mind updating your blog with more information? It is highly helpful for me.
I love how these turned out and appreciate you sharing them with us and how you made them. I plan to try to create something similar to help corral the weekly paper messes that end up on the kitchen table, lol!! Thanks and loving the site so far.
Cute! Making stuff is so much fun
New follower here!
Yay! I love having new people around:)