It’s a new year and I want to give a few rooms in our house a fresh new look. Our office was one of the first spaces I completed when I started this blog (has it really been 5 1/2 years!)

I’m tired of staring at the same room day after day. I know many of you feel the same way. You have that itch, or a burning desire to hop in the car and drive to your nearest Home Goods, World Market or The Container Store to buy cute colorful decor or storage bins. I almost caved into that desire because I was tired of looking at the two tone boxes I bought 6 years ago.  But, that would mean discarding the old ones. You know how I feel about throwing things away ! If I can upcycle it, I’m going to!

Within 10 minutes you could give a  Magazine File Box a Facelift(or a storage box)! I saved a lot of money reusing the old. Factor in the gas money I saved by not driving to the store. And the time I saved by not leaving the house. I think I deserve a big fat high five! Put ‘er there fellow savers!

Here’s How to Give Your Magazine File Box a Facelift:

Materials:

• Scrapbook paper
• Pencil
• Metal ruler
• Cutting Mat
• X-acto knife
• Scissors
• Spray Mount

Instructions:

Remove the contents of your file box. Lay the box onto the back side of your scrapbook paper.

Draw a pencil line around the outside and the handle.

Use the x-acto knife to cut an “X” where the handle is.

Test fit the scrapbook paper onto the file box and cut any excess paper.

Spray a good coating of spray adhesive onto the back of the scrapbook paper.

Center it onto the box and press the paper firmly in place. Fold the “X” flaps inside the box and press against the inside of the box.

Repeat for the other boxes you want to cover.

You can still see the old color on the sides, but 99.99% of the time they are stored on the shelves and most people won’t see the sides.

I also gave the back of the bookcase a facelift with new fabric inserts. You can read how to add fabric backing to your shelves here .

I glued the scrapbook paper onto the magazine file boxes last year and the paper is still holding up fairly well. A few dog ears are appearing, but if I want a more permanent solution I can use mod podge to coat the outside. My desk is an entirely different story, it was this clean for a day. Now you’d be hard pressed to find the glass surface. It’s littered with papers now. That’s life in the Handy House!

I still have a yearning to makeover this space eventually. You can see some of my ideas in my Home Office Pinterest board .

What do you think? A window and wall-to-wall shelves over the desks?

Do you have any file or magazine boxes you could give a quick facelift to?

Pin for later!