Custom Teacher Toolbox

I'm sure any teacher who is on Pinterest has seen the photos of teacher toolboxes floating around.  As soon as I saw them, I knew I had to make one.

 

I am an office supply junkie--I can't go in Target or Wal-Mart or anywhere without going down the office supply aisle just to see if there is anything new.  I love pens and sharpies especially..but I don't like to leave them in a pencil cup on my desk because they tend to grow legs and disappear.  This seemed like a good way for them to be still easily accessible to me, but out of sight and organized.

 

Previously, all of my office supplies went into the rainbow 10-drawer container in the picture below.

 

 

This container was great for bigger items, but the small things like pens and sharpies would just be in a jumbled mess in each drawer.

 

Enter toolbox! 

 

I went to Lowes and they had two different ones available--a 22-drawer and an 18-drawer.  I chose the 22-drawer because I didn't want a really tall toolbox, and the 18-drawer was about twice as tall. This is what it looked like before I did anything to it.

 

 

I knew I wanted to customize it, so I started by finding a template for the drawer labels. The one I used came from Fun in Room 4B and is available for free on her TPT page here: Teacher's Toolbox Editable Template. I downloaded the font that she lists so that it would look the way it was supposed to when I opened the file.

 

I edited the template to change the labels of the drawers to what I wanted them to say, and then I printed them out using some cute scrapbook paper.

 

 

 

I ended up printing some of the pages from the template twice because I didn't have enough of the pieces on the striped paper.  This is what they looked like cut out and arranged.

 

 

 

I used the Scotch permanent double sided tape to put the labels into the drawers--I just stuck it on the side of the paper with the words and then put it on the back of the drawer face.

 

 

(This tape is one of my favorite things to use in the classroom and in my hallway displays!)

 

 

 

Drawers all finished!

 

 

Then I decided to paint the shell of the toolbox because I didn't really care for the navy.  I prefer bright colors, and I also wanted it to match the scrapbook papers.  I did a little research on spray painting plastic, and I read that you should use a primer so that the paint will stick.  I chose this one from Rust-Oleum:

 

 

The primer worked really well.  It covered the toolbox evenly in just one coat and dried nice and smooth. 

 

The spray paint I purchased was this one from Krylon:

 

 

I have used Krylon before and have always liked it.  However, this time, it did not go so well.  I feel like they have changed the spray nozzle or something, but I cannot remember for sure.  I followed the directions exactly like I was supposed to (shake the can for at least a minute, don't paint in really high humidity, wait allotted time between coats, etc.) and it was a bit of a disaster. 

 

The paint was spewing out all over the place in big drops as I used it for the first coat. I have never seen spray paint go all over the place like this one did.  I didn't even have the can upside down--I was holding it upright but paint was going in all directions out of the nozzle. I thought, well, maybe I should shake it for longer than the back of the can says because it isn't mixed properly.

 

So I shook it extra well before the second coat, and the same thing happened again. 

 

Besides the paint going everywhere, I noticed that as the coats of paint dried, they were definitely not smooth.  The paint was bubbling up in a weird crackle-looking way, but not actually cracking.  It only did this in some areas, so I'm not sure what happened. You can kind of see it in the finished picture. 

 

 

 

 

Even though the surface is far from smooth, I really like the way that it looks with the light blue color.  Besides, I'm the only one that will be close enough to it to see the imperfections.

 

On Thursday this week I took it to my classroom and filled it up with all of my supplies.  When I was searching for ideas for my toolbox and looking at pictures online, I couldn't find any pictures of a box that was filled with everything--I wanted to see what all the office goodies looked like and how they really went into the drawers, because I was skeptical that some things would fit.

 

So, I took pictures of everything in mine, just in case there are other skeptics out there who want to see!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I put this on the bookshelf behind my desk, right next to my stapler and tape.   I put my little wooden nameplate on top of it instead of on my desk--I think it looks better there.

 

 

That's all for now--maybe next time I will show how my bulletin boards are coming along. I finished setting them up yesterday, but I still have plenty to do in the rest of my room. I am about 70% done with my classroom so far.  The rest I will have to finish at pre-planning next week before the students come in for registration on Friday.