Decorative Wood Boxes

I love crafts so generally have several projects on the go at one time. Aside of textiles one of my favourite mediums to work with is paint. Several years ago I discovered thin unfinished band boxes suitable for decorative painting or decoupaging. At that time they weren't exactly cheap. A couple of years ago I rediscovered unfinished boxes at of all places a dollar store! These are not the wood boxes of the past!

Decorative Wood Boxes

Pictured are two wood boxes purchased at a dollar store for $1. The hexagon box is unfinished to show you what the finished box looked like when I bought it. The boxes are about 6" in length, 4" wide and 3" deep. They come with hinged lids and a small clasp. The hinges and clasp are brass coloured. The pressed raised design in the centre is recessed and leaves a lot of ways to finish it.

I wanted a quilted look for the finished box so painted the raised design with acrylic craft paints that are also available at dollar stores. I used tole painting a type of folk art for the inside panel. When the inside panel was dry, I used 3 coats of water based urethane to finish the box. There is still plenty of time to make up a few of these decorative wood boxes for gift giving.

The most expensive part of this project is the water based urethane but you can easily finish four or more boxes using one small can. You can use either spray or brush on urethane in satin or gloss finish. You will need a few bottles of Crafter's Acrylic paint in various colours but at $1 a piece for a 55 ml (2 oz) bottle they will last for several crafting projects and can be used on a wide variety of surfaces. Don't let the shading scare you either. It is rather easy simply by applying the base coat of paint then stroking on a little white while the base coat is still damp using a semi dry brush. Artists brushes are also available at the dollar stores.

I hope you like this inexpensive gift idea and have a lot of fun creating these cute decorative boxes. They are perfect for gift giving as is or filled with something special. Another way you can gift these boxes is to create a kit with everything needed to finish the box for the crafter on your list.

Materials Needed

decorative hinged wood box
Crafter's Acrylic paint (variety of colours)
sheet fine grade sandpaper
artist brush(es)
½" sponge brush (only if using brush on finish)
Flecto® Varathane
newspaper to protect surface




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