Monday 11 October, 2021

How to Decorate Plastic Bins with Decoupage, Part 1


If you have recently purchased a set of plastic bins or drawers for your home, you may be wondering, “How can I decorate a plastic storage box?” Clear plastic storage bins offer many advantages; they are versatile, lightweight, and budget-friendly. But they are not always the most elegant addition to your home decor. For that […]


If you have recently purchased a set of plastic bins or drawers for your home, you may be wondering, “How can I decorate a plastic storage box?” Clear plastic storage bins offer many advantages; they are versatile, lightweight, and budget-friendly. But they are not always the most elegant addition to your home decor. For that reason, you may want to give your new plastic storage bins a makeover.

There are numerous techniques that you can use for this, but one fun method to try is decoupage. What is decoupage? It is a method you can use to decorate pretty much any surface imaginable using paper cutouts. The word “decoupage” is derived from the French verb découper, which translates to “to cut out.” You simply cover a surface with various paper cutouts, and then use Mod Podge or a similar sealant to create a smooth, glossy surface. This can create a painted look.

What is excellent about decoupage is that it is so versatile, and you can adapt it to pretty much any set of objects or materials you might have on hand. A lot of people go out of their way to purchase objects for decoupage, but if you have plain plastic storage bins with lids, you already have a wonderful blank canvas waiting for you. This is an opportunity to expand your artistic horizons.

What kinds of materials can you use for your cutouts? Here are just a few ideas:

• Origami paper
• Fancy paper napkins
• Fabric
• Greeting cards
• Wallpaper
• Wrapping paper
• Calendars
• Magazines
• Images from books
• Pressed flowers (the items you use do not all have to be paper)

As you can see, there is pretty much no limit as far as what you can achieve using decoupage. You can choose any colors, any patterns, any themes. That means that you can fully customize the look of your bins to fit with your home decor and your personality. This is also a wonderful way to make use of paper items that you like which might otherwise go to waste or be difficult to preserve.

You can usually achieve the most fanciful effect by layering a number of different images and materials into a collage before going over them with your Mod Podge. But you do not have to do this; you can just go with a single layer and get a great effect as well. In fact, this is probably one of the best approaches you can take as a beginner. You could simply get some wallpaper which has a nice pattern for example, and use that to cover a set of clear plastic totes with handles.

Naturally, you are going to want detailed instructions to help you learn how to decorate plastic storage bins using decoupage. To find out exactly how it is done, read on to the next article in this set, How to Decorate Plastic Bins with Decoupage, Part 2. I will walk you through it step-by-step so that you know exactly what to do after you select your materials.

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