Ideas to reuse shoeboxes

What to do with the box after the purchase?

It’s impossible to resist! Every time you see a new model of shoes, sneakers or boots, you immediately need to buy your very own pair. However, the problem arises later when you buy the shoes, store them in your closet and you’ve an empty box without any use… What to do? You can keep it in case it’s necessary, but then you’ve a pile of empty boxes that do more harm than good. In that case, the only solution is to throw it away, right? Wrong! There are many ways to reuse shoeboxes so that they can become useful and practical items, either for decoration, storage or even entertainment.

That’s why on today’s EscapeShoes blog post, we’ll show you a few simple and economical ideas on how to reuse your shoeboxes and transform them into pieces indispensable in your household. Shall we start?

Wall shelves and art

This idea’s very easy to do, since you just need to paint or line the box and attach it to the wall. To line it, you can use wrapping or even wall paper. If you attach the box with the open side faced towards the wall, it can serve as a beautiful decorative painting, but if you attach it backwards, it serves as a shelf. You can even glue a small box inside a bigger box in order to increase the number of shelves in that space. You just need to make sure that the boxes you use as shelves have strong and sturdy walls.

Jewellery storage

To execute this idea, you just need the lid of the box and line it with canvas or another fabric. You’ll also need some push pins and fasten them to the fabric, and… voilá… you finally have a place to hang your necklaces and bracelets! If afterwards you want to also reuse the box, line it and fasten your earrings to the inside. Hence, you’ll never have to worry about losing these small accessories of yours, because you’ll always know where to find them!

File caddy

This is a great idea if you’re someone that always has their files disorganized! Take a box and exactly on the middle, cut two triangles of equal size, one on each side. From the tip of the triangle, bend the box in the middle downwards and glue the two parts together. Next, cut the lid into two pieces in the same size that you need to cover the sides. Glue them to the structure and line it with wrapping paper. With this practical file caddy, you’ll never have to worry about messy papers across your desk! As an extra, you can also take small cardboard tubes, place them inside the caddy and thus they serve to keep your pens and pencils. All of it will stay truly neat and tidy!

Charging station

This is a very useful item for this modern age! What you need is a shoebox, an extension block, scissors and your chargers. First, you need to assure that the extension block fits inside the box, and then on the back you make a small vertical opening to plug the extension’s cord to the socket. On the front, cut the small holes that you need to fit the chargers’ cords of your mobile phones, tablet, iPad, etc… If you prefer to line the box with decorative paper, we suggest that you do it before cutting the openings, and you can also place metallic eyelets for more durability, and label the small holes so that you can know which charger matches which device. If you usually forget where you’ve the charger or if all of them and muddled together, this is a very practical solution!

Homemade projector

Do you like to share your holiday photos with your friends? Or enjoy movie night at home? If your answer’s yes, what you need is a homemade projector. Do you know how to do it? It’s very easy! What you need is your mobile phone, scissors or a snap-off knife, a magnifying glass, tape and, of course, a shoebox, preferably black, but if it’s light-coloured, it’s best to paint it black or line it with paper in that colour. First, cut on the front a circle in the same size as the magnifying glass, and cut another opening on the back to fit the mobile phone’s cord. Then, glue the magnifying glass to the round opening on the front so that no light’s able to get in. Find a stand for the mobile phone and place it inside the box in the place where you can get the best image focus. Plug the mobile phone’s cord to a socket and cover its opening with tape. Finally, close the box with the lid and… it’s show time!

These are just a few of the most creative and practical ideas that we found, but of course there are many more projects that you can put into practise to get rid of those old shoeboxes. However, if you don’t usually keep the box after buying shoes, perhaps you’re even luckier, because now you’ve an excuse to buy more shoes! Where? At EscapeShoes, obviously!