Upcycling: Faux Galvanized Metal Box

Here is Southern California, or at least in my city, there’s a plastic bag ban. That’s fine. I’m all for eliminating those plastic bags. But if I want a paper bag when I go to the grocery store, I have to pay for it. In other words, it’s BYOB or Bring Your Own Bag. I miss my brown paper grocery bags. I used them for everything. Covering books, crafting, and putting recycling in.

I decided I needed a recycling bin in my office since I’ve run out of the nice brown paper bags that I used for a recycling bin. I saved a nice sturdy box that wasn’t too big but would accommodate letter size paper, all the junk mail and craft trimmings that accumulate every day.

Isn’t that surface wipe box a beauty? Good old Kirkland. Here’s how I transformed that bright box into a faux galvanized metal recycling bin.

1. Cut off the box cover flaps. Use duct tape to bind the top edge of the box. On the outside of the box, the duct tape will also look like a metal seam once it’s covered in tin foil so you only want the tape to cover about a half inch on the outside.
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3. Place a piece of tin foil over each side of the box, pressing it down to mark the edges. I used heavy duty tin foil and used the dull side out (shiny side glued down).
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5. Cut the pieces of tin foil one half inch larger than the side of the box.
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7. Use Mod Podge to stick the tin foil to the box. Gently smooth out the tin foil with a credit card our brayer.
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9. Let the tin foil wrap around the corner of the box to look like binding.
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11. I decided I didn’t like the cut out handles that originally came on the box and cover them with a faux metal plate. To make the plate crinkle the tin foil and then smooth out. Wrap it around a piece of cardboard and adhere to the box.
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13. Add brads or other embellishments. I used small cork circles to mimic bolts.
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15. Once the box is completely covered, paint the tin foil dabbing on different colors and quickly blotting it with a paper towel or sponge.

Paint colors that I used: Martha Steward Glass Paint in opaque Black and Vanilla Bean, Martha Steward Metallic multi surface in Sterling, Folk Art acrylic paint in Dove Gray and Folk Art Metallic Taupe.