Around the House DIY: Storage Container

I make frequent trips to Target (favorite store ever!) for all my shopping needs. I’m sure everyone can agree that by the time you check out, you can never spend under $100. It’s way too easy to throw stuff in your cart that you don’t even really need.

I saw this mason jar/storage holder near the home décor aisles. I immediately fell in love and wanted to buy it. The $24.99 price wasn’t the issue, I just thought it would be super easy to make. You see, I am not that handy, so at first I thought “I can definitely make this for cheaper!”…little did I know, I don’t know how to attach the brackets that hold the mason jars to the wooden plank. I like my art projects to be super easy and hate using electric tools! If a project deals with glue or tape, count me in!

I am not really a big fan of the rustic look, and mason jars are super rustic looking! I needed to think of something else that could replace the mason jars. I went to my second favorite store (The Dollar Tree) and looked around the aisles to see what I could use. When I walked down the bathroom aisle I found these plastic toothbrush holders. I took the top off the jar and realized I can use this instead of glass jars; plus the glue sticks better to lightweight plastic! $3 in total for the containers. Perfecto!

My family calls me the Coupon Queen. I WILL NOT buy anything without a coupon! I went into Michaels to find some type of wooden plaque to glue these plastic containers to. The one I found was a wooden signboard for $7.99. Of course, I had a 50% off one item coupon, so it only costs me 4 bucks. Since the signboard was unfinished, I wanted to paint it brown. I bought 2 little bottles of paint (.89 each). 

Supplies needed:

Glue gun
Paint
Wine corks
Wooden plaque
Plastic containers (whichever one you find)
...and anything you want to use to decorate the jars

Step 1: 

Paint the wooden plaque

I painted the plaque with 3 coats of the brown paint to make sure everything had an even coat.

Step 2:

Glue wine cork of back of container and glue on any of your decorative pieces.
Once you are pleased with your containers… glue them to the plaque.

As I was letting the paint dry, I was thinking of ways to dress up these holders - it looked a
little plain for my liking. I had some raffia that was previously around my bouquet of flowers
(my fiancé is the best) and I decided to wrap them around the top of the jars to add a little
something to it. Since I was feeling extra crafty, I glued these little pine cones to the middle
of the raffia bow. So cute!

As I was going to hot glue the containers I realized only the top half would be able to get
glued down, not the bottom of it because it stuck out about ½ inch off the plaque. I looked
around my apartment desperately trying to find something I can use to put in between the
two. As I was looking through my junk drawer, I saw a wine cork. I cut the wine cork in half
and glued one end to the plaque and the other to the bottom of the toothbrush holder. Voila,
it worked!! I then began to glue the other two jars to the wood.

Project finished!

You can use this for anything you want; hang in the kitchen to put cooking utensils in it,
use it in your living room as a plant holder or you can use it as storage for your makeup
brushes. I used mine in the bathroom; I stored q-tips, cotton balls and makeup remover
pads in them.

My cost = just under $9
Target = $24.99