Thinking inside the box

It's almost summer! I know, technically, summer doesn't officially kick off until June 21st but the weekend of Memorial Day is the known starting point of summer for most. As the weather gets warmer we tend to spend more time outdoors but who doesn't. We also enjoy having company over and preparing a meal for someone else is my idea of fun. However, when we entertain outside it seems like it's much more work to carry the plates, utensils etc to the deck and back in. Well not any more; I converted this fruit box (I first told you about it here) into a storage container to hold all of our outdoor entertaining items.

First I gave the entire box a little sanding by hand. I still want this to look "vintage" so I didn't spend too much time sanding. It may be the fact that I am lazy or my hand cramps (maybe) but I am sticking to my vintage story as my reason.

Next I grabbed my Rustoleum 'Heirloom White' spray paint. These pictures are not of the highest quality. The lighting in the barn (see the hay in the background) is absolutely terrible. I attempted to add light to the pictures with Picasa. It did a wonderful job considering the original product it had to work with.

I gave the box one coat of paint; I believe it will require at least two for me to be satisfied.

And since I am the pillar of patience-NOT, please don't do what I do and try to hurry up the process of spray paint. It will never work, you will always lose and you will be very disappointed. I attempted again because lets face it I'm not good at taking directions, even if they are my own.

See it will pool up or drip and that isn't pretty. Luckily though, in my case, this mess up is on the bottom. No one will ever know...except for ya'll. With spray painting you must have a steady hand and even coating.

After the second coat of spray paint I drilled two holes on each end of the box (4 total) so that I could attach handles to make this easier to carry.

I love how this box still has some of the character showing through, like the scratch marks and the knots. Once I was done attaching the handles I decided to line the inside with come country looking fabric I found at Joanne's. It was only $2.79 a yard and I only purchased 1 yard. Woohoo! I made sure that the fabric overlapped the top just a bit. Then I added brown ribbon that I purchased forever ago. It was intended for another project but I just never got around to it. At the time it was only .92 cents a yard so I picked up 3 yards.

To adhere the fabric and the ribbon to the box I just grabbed my trusty hot glue gun and went to work.

                              

I love it; it is super cute, crazy handy for our family and entertaining needs and it's totally country chic. What a great addition; I couldn't be more happy.

                               

I grabbed some of our outdoor entertaining items and added them to the box. Like our fiesta ware that my MIL bought us. The Hubs loves these plates and glasses. He has wanted them for such a long time. And isn't the matching pitcher super adorable!