About a week and a half ago, I posted about a sweet little storage cube makeover. Well, I had two storage cubes, and I’ve just finished upcycling the second one.  Allow me to introduce you to its brother…the industrial toy box!

red toy box with navy stripe

red industrial toy box

industrial toy box

Both of these cubes were so much fun to makeover! I had two totally different visions for what they could become, so having two of them was a dream come true.

These poor storage cubes have been in our garage for years, and even traveled with us from California to Colorado.  They are Pottery Barn Tristan storage cubes, so the quality is excellent, but they had been very well loved, and had all the scratches and dings to prove it.  They just needed a new purpose, and a facelift.

Before

Here is a picture of what the storage cube looked like before I started its makeover (I had already removed the chunky feet these cubes came with by this point).

pottery barn tristan cube makeover

How We Made Our Industrial Toy Box

This little industrial toy box had quite a bit of work done to it!

1. Removed the Lid

The lid on our second cube wasn’t working right, and wouldn’t close all the way even after I tried to repair it, so I removed it! The lid is going to get another purpose one of these days, too. I’ve already got a plan for it! I removed all of the hardware and hinges from the lid, and filled in the holes.

2. Painted

Next, I painted it with Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint in Tricycle. I especially like using milk paint for furniture in kids rooms because it is non-toxic.

I hand-painted the navy stripe, using green Frog Tape to create nice straight lines with no bleeding.

For the numbers, I chose an industrial-looking font (Google’s Black Ops), and printed the numbers out on a piece of regular white paper.  Then, I used my wonderful Saral Transfer Paper to transfer the numbers onto the cube. With a steady hand and a small brush, I painted the outlines of the numbers in with my navy paint.

The entire cube was given a couple of coats of Miss Mustard Seed’s Tough Coat. I really like the matte finish it gives!

3. Added Industrial Touches

I spray-painted four 90-degree metal brackets using Rust-Oleum Universal All Surface Spray Paint, Oil Rubbed Bronze, and installed the brackets over the previous cut-outs from the lid’s hinges. They did a great job of concealing the old location of the hinges, while adding a fun industrial touch.

I added four small, rubber swivel castors to the bottom that I purchased at Lowe’s.

And that’s how this little guy became the cute industrial toy box he is today. I think this will look so great in some little boy’s room, and will be so easy for putting away toys quickly. I wish I had this when my son was young!

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22 Comments

  1. Oooooo I love the colors you used. Such a great and fun look for a toy box and now it can be loved all over again. They both look beautiful

    1. Thanks! I love the red color, too. When we mixed up the milk paint, it looked bright pink, and I wasn’t sure how it would end up. Luckily it dried as a beautiful shade of red (no pink at all). ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. Cute makeover! It’s perfect for a boy’s room. Thank you for linking up at The Bloggerโ€™s Pit Stop. Iโ€™m sharing your link on social media.
    Carol (โ€œMimiโ€) from Home with Mimi

  3. Such a fun and useful idea! I love numbers added to anything. ๐Ÿ™‚ Thanks for sharing with SYC.
    hugs,
    Jann

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