What is it exactly?: It's an end table and storage unit made from old pizza boxes. Stacked up tall and proud, the boxes not only provide a touch of art deco in a drab dorm, but also serve as a couch-side storage unit for your remote control, loose change or any other odds and ends.
Usefulness factor: If those nasty old pizza boxes are pilling up in your room and you are low on room furnishings, this craft is for you. With a few creative brushstrokes, what once was trash can be turned into a little end table that you will treasure throughout your stint as a poor college student.
Materials needed:
- 10-12 pizza boxes
- 1 color of your choice spray paint can
- An assortment of decorative acrylic paints
- A hot glue gun
- 1 can of disinfectant
- 1 spatula
Get Started:
1. Using the spatula, scrape out any pizza remnants still stuck to the bottom of the box.
2. Take the can of disinfectant and douse the inside of each box, unless, of course, you welcome the sudden arrival of insects and vermin at your door.
3. Stack the freshly sterilized pizza boxes on top of each other in an asymmetrical pattern.
4. Once you have the boxes in place, secure the design with hot glue.
5. Lay down a tarp or some old newspapers and spray-paint the outside of the boxes. (Ignore the cold and open a window to avoid the fumes.) Let dry.
6. Using the acrylic paints, decorate the top of the end table with any pizza-related design.
7. Place your new end table next to your couch, stash your remote in the top box, kick up your feet and call for another delivery.
Total cost: $1 for a clearance can of spray paint at Meijer.
Challenge level: On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the Martha Stewart challenge, this is a 2. This craft doesn't call for elaborate planning or precision. You're just eating pizza and painting some boxes.
Our thoughts: Okay, so college students are notoriously known for their trashy furnishings, and making a humble end table out of um, well, trash doesn't do much in rectifying socioeconomic stereotypes. But if you're strapped for cash, the Pizza Box Bureau is a tasty alternative to high prices at Pier 1. The best part is, if you don't like the way it turns out or if you find something better at a flea market, you can trash the trashy craft without a second thought.
