Shoebox: Rec Room Makeover, Paper Cut-out Storage

It all started because of a problem. Right in the middle of the room was a pole. It was needed for support, but it made decorating and furniture arranging a bit of a challenge. The entire family got involved in meeting the challenge.

One of Grace's daughters-in-law had a round dining room table and chairs left from remodeling. Her husband (Grace's son) cut a hole in the middle of the table to accommodate the pole. I'm guessing that the table was one that opened in the middle to accommodate leaves.

Grace painted the table and then tiled it using some painted tiles she found on eBay. To these tiles she added some broken dishes, and she filled in with some plain white tile pieces so all nine grandchildren and their spouses and their children (total of 20) could all paint a tile with their name and artwork on it. A fun project!

When everything was in place and secure, she covered the entire table with Enviro-Tex-Lite to give it a high-gloss protective finish.

But that wasn't all. The table also had chairs. The grandkids and great grandkids formed their own groups and painted the chairs as they saw fit. From the photos Grace sent, they did a great...and very colorful...job.

The awkward pole is now the highlight of the room. Talk about making lemonade from lemons!

But Grace added more to the room. She also covered the entire top of a coffee table with pennies, making certain that there was a penny with the date (year) that everyone in the family was born. This too she covered with Enviro-Tex, and from the photo, I'd say it looks great. Oh yes...somebody also painted all the legs of the table in bright and wonderful colors. From the pictures I saw, it's a very happy looking room!

But that wasn't the end of the organizing . Madeline Schiller of Lake Worth, Fla., said that her husband eats mints by the bucketful, so she has a generous supply of the containers, which she has found make a perfect place to keep all her tiny punched-out pieces. To make everything really convenient, here's what she wrote:

1. Paint and/or decorate Altoid tin as desired.

2. Cut out a piece of foam core to fit inside the box.

3. Place 6 lids from water bottle into the box.

Note: I did not glue them down so I could remove them when I work.

4. I glued a sample of each punch out on the outside of the box so I always know what is inside.

5. I keep the boxes inside a shoebox.