"The towels were so thick there I could barely close my suitcase." -Yogi Berra

Here is a fascinating tutorial on how to make the cutest little storage table out of an old suitcase you've ever seen. You'll need an old, hardback suitcase (check your favorite local thrift or consignment shop, I hit the jackpot at mine and found 3!!), table legs & leg plates (got all mine at Lowe's), and a screwdriver. I also stained and painted my table legs and used a piece of plywood inside the cases to sturdy the legs from the inside. I'll explain later.





a snapshot of my supplies at the beginning. 3 suitcases, a set of legs, and a set of plates for each.

close-up of one of the plates i got at Lowe's. they make angle top plates, where the legs will angle outward, or straight, where they will be totally vertical when attached.

they make table legs in all different sizes and styles. not a fantastic selection at Lowe's, but good enough for what i needed right away.

this suitcase could've done with all 4 plates being smaller, no need for the 2 heavy duty ones at the top, but they didn't have enough regulars in stock

i measured out where each one should go, marked with a pencil, and drilled the holes

i attached the legs before the board on the inside was in, just to make sure i liked the legs

i had 3 boards cut to fit inside the 3 suitcases, round the corners to make sure they'll go into it all the way. i either stained or painted them to match the legs.

painted them while they were attached

to attach the board on the inside, i placed that on a tray table (you can use a stool or anything that will keep the board snug against the bottom of the suitcase. you will screw in the plates at this time, so the board will be attached. sorry, for some reason i don't have any pictures to illustrate this step!!

view from bottom

view for inside after board is attached

now the plates are attached to something other than the thin bottom of the suitcase, and the inside has a nice, neat bottom for storage. no screws sticking out!

finito!!

this one was chosen by my sister as her birthday gift, she is quite happy with it in her living room. they are such unique pieces for any room, great storage and style.






here are some more pics of the other 2 i did at the same time:

i used angled top plates for the big one, i wanted the legs to be angled outward. these were the hardest for me to attach, but i don't think it was because of the plates, it was because the suitcase itself is old and warped.

the long legs just weren't working out at all!! it was way taller than i expected (you know i didn't measure first) and the warp in the bottom was making one of them stick out at the wrong angle.

stained while attached

these are straight plates and 7" legs

anyway, the little one worked out real nice.

i finally finished the big one, and decided on shorter legs. the warp doesn't affect the angle as much and it's the same height as the bed, so it's a nice little storage table at the end!

i just love it. it has all these stickers on it from travel boats in the 50's. it belonged to someone locally, the address card on the side is from here, and the suitcase was purchased by the consignment shop at the estate sale after the owner died at 104! i just love all that history.

January 7, 1954, sailing on the Cunard Line. in a stateroom. so cool!

whaddya gonna do with all those gift boxes?

hello! tis the Christmas season again. yay! i confess i did this project before Thanksgiving...while i watched It's a Wonderful Life. but who cares am i right? this is a wreath for my front door made from gift boxes & ribbon. here are the steps:

materials: flat wreath form, hot glue gun/sticks, 15-20 small gift boxes (got mine at Michael's, but you could definitely use your extra ones and wrap them in the same paper, gift wrapping, etc.), assortment of ribbon, staple gun (if using wood wreath), 2 yds coordinating satin ribbon

i started with a flat wood wreath form. for this project, i'd definitely recommend starting with a flat wreath. foam core would work just fine if you don't have access to having a piece of wood cut! that would also make it lighter, which is nice.

i added the ribbon to all my boxes, and arranged them around the wreath, getting an idea of how it should look altogether. definitely do this before you glue!

carefully choose where to place the boxes, and consider where to put the glue so you don't have a bunch of it spilling off the edges. sometimes i glued the box to the wreath first, other times i glued a couple boxes together, then glue them to the wreath. it all depends on your composition!

tied a casual bow with 2 yds of satin ribbon, cut from a ribbon-by-the-roll roll at Michael's, then glue onto a box!

i used the same ribbon to make a hook for the back, and glued it

the wood makes this a little heavy though, so i stapled it with a staple gun. someday i will most likely replace this with a more substantial hook

i hung it up on the door before i cut the satin ribbon to my preferred length so i could see how long i really wanted it to be

i left the long tails and cut diagonally. the wood wreath is almost 12" in diameter, and the ribbon hangs about 18". if i were to re-do this, i would opt for using foam core and making the wreath about 16" in diameter, it looks great up close but it's a little small from the street!

loads of different types of wreaths you can make, out of pretty much any material, are you making one this year??