the old apple box

I hit a garage sale in my neighborhood Saturday. Don't know if I was just in the mood or she had a lot of GOOD STUFF, but I came home with a car load. One of my thrifty treasures was this old apple box. Don't you just love it? I love boxes and this one is so nostalgic. It was just what I needed to cozy up my kitchen desk area. I have run out of space to store my cookbooks so I thought I would use this to do the trick.

Our gracious Thrifty Treasures host, Rhoda had a post a while back where she lined a cupboard back with burlap. Well, I stored this back in my mental file cabinet and that's what gave me the idea to line the inside back of my box. I had some leftover toile from my window treatments. Just the perfect touch! Thanks for that clever idea, Rhoda!
BTW, I know what you're thinking. She corded that to go in a box! NO WAY! This was a salvaged project that didn't work out so I just used it here.


You could use any fabric that you choose or you could even use scrapbook or wrapping paper for this project. I just stapled it on the back.


Now comes the fun part. I filled my box with cookbooks and sugar and creamer. Then I filled the sugar bowl with coffee beans and added a battery operated candle to lighten up the interior of my box. The top needed a little softening so I placed a napkin on the top and barely draped the embroidered tulips over the edge.


A hand painted lamp I bought at a craft fair years ago, an old rolling pin, cookbooks, and a treasured photograph set on top of the box.


Here's a photo of the box next to the window so you can see how the interior fabric matches the toile strip down the window shade. I should probably mention the board behind the desk shown in the next photo. To create this I did the following:

1. I started with plywood and then covered it with batting that you would buy in a craft or fabric store.


2. Covered the batting with muslin. I just stapled the batting and the muslin on the back with a staple gun.


3. Cut bias strips of the same striped fabric of my roman shades and crisscrossed the board as seen in the photo. I used brass tacks to secure. It's a great place to hold all my photos, invitations, announcements or whatever.

And here's the finished project (for now anyway). As you know, a decorator at heart is never through. :)

Be sure and check out all the other transformations at our other most gracious host, Susan's Metamorphosis Monday.