So it turns out when you do Graphic Design at college you need to buy lots of art supplies. I’m not even joking the list of stuff I needed to buy was the length of my arm. However this means I now have lots and lots of art supplies and no space for them.
I could quite easily make more space if I sacrificed some of my books but I’m not doing that, so instead I decided to find a way of making drawers that would find in the little space I had left under my desk. This was the result.
So the first thing I learned when doing this project is that foam board is horrible to work with. Its floppy, its a nightmare cutting it to the right size and it hates being glued together. But I decided to continue with it anyway. This was purely down to a money issue. We had sheets of foam board just waiting to be thrown out while I would have had to go and buy MDF.
Using the foam board meant I managed to do this entire project with things I already had lying around. I found that layering paper mache over the entire structure really helped to strengthen everything. But yeah, if I learned anything from this it would be don’t use foam to make storage boxes (unless you’re prepared to spend weeks paper macheing everything (which I am not!)).
I also decided since I was in a DIY-ey mood to spray paint my plastic storage tower. Now everything is the same colour which makes it look so much neater. Pro tip: if you’re spray painting stuff and you wear glasses, take your glasses off before you start painting. If you manage to get spray paint on your glasses turpentine will get it off.
The Paper Kind 
14 responses to “Building Cheap Storage Using Foamboard”
LOL! Had to laugh at the paint on your glasses part. Last time I painted my hair got speckled 🙂
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Omg yes. My hair is now just long enough that the end dips into my palette when I’m painting. I’ve had to start putting it in a bun when I paint.
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Wow! You MADE those drawers???
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Uhhh yes. I think I did. I definitely did 😛
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Emma, how about making small bundles of items that can be used together for a small project and auction them off here or giveaway during a special week? Just a thought, not sure whether you want to keep all these items.
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I’m actually working on something like that already. Sort of… I think I said a few weeks ago I was going to set up a Patreon account. Well that is hopefully going to start at the end of this month and I’ve been working on little art pieces and stuff to give away.
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Hi, sometimes colleges have a shop for supplies at discount which can be a help if working on a budget. But as far as storage..good luck! 🙂
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I don’t know of anything like that near me but thank you very much. I will be on the look out.
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Those drawers look so great! I never thought about spray painting plastic storage. I’ll have to try it sometime. 🙂
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The spray paint didn’t turn out that great in some parts. You can’t see it in the photos but some of it has come off already. I think I probably should have primed it first. Apart from that it looks so much better. And spray paint is pretty cheap. You should try it!
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Looks great. Very organised 🙂
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Lol, its not actually. It just looks organised because you can’t see the mess any more!
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Well you’ve hidden it well 🙂
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Hahaha yup!
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