A little bamboo box

Remember last week when I posted about this cute little bamboo box at HomeGoods, and how I thought I could totally DIY it?

Well, I did, but it was harder than I thought it would be, mostly because of my own stupidity. I should go easy on myself. I was kind of making it up as I went along, after all!

Anyways, I started with a bamboo placemat I had at home. I bought it years ago at Target and actually used it as a photo holder: I hung it on my wall and tucked photos in between the slats. It was cute, but the photos didn't ever really want to stay in place, so I had a sole bamboo placemat and nothing to do with it.

Enter -- the jewelry box! This jewelry box was cute, but not really my style (I totally forget where it came from). I was planning on taking it to Goodwill, but I decided to give it a second life.

First, I measured how much mat would cover the box and marked it with a pen.

Next, I took some hot glue to the seams of black thread to reinforce the placemat. I realized that the only thing holding the mat together was the thread, which was tied to a large piece of wood on each end. But I was planning to cut that piece of wood off, meaning the thread would unravel. A little hot glue (OK, maybe a lot) would keep the pieces of bamboo and the thread in place.

Then, I got to work cutting the mat down to size. I used the coping saw I bought my husband for Christmas. Merry Christmas to me too! This took a lot longer than I thought it would -- those little bamboo slats didn't like to hold still and splintered easily, so I had to go slow.

Finally, after making all my cuts, I was left with this.

Then, I got to work gluing all the pieces to my jewelry box. I used the larger wood pieces to disguise the sides, and they ended up being practically the perfect height.

So, long story short, I got the whole thing glued up and realized I cut the mat way too short -- the edges didn't hang over the sides of the jewelry box enough, and the lip under the lid was still visible. Not cool.

I was about ready to throw in the towel, but then I decided to see if I could use what was left of the may and start over. Luckily, I had enough left to cover the jewelry box, AND the thread would be symmetrical. Score! I got the saw again and did some more cutting. I yanked off what I'd already done, and hot glued my new pieces to the jewelry box.

And yes! This one came out good! At least, I think so.

The HomeGoods box had a fancy little tassle on it, but I was too lazy to try and figure out how to DIY something like that. Instead, I tied a couple buttons from my collection together with some black embroidery thread and glued it to the front of the box. Charming, isn't it?

Here it is on my bureau, with my DIY necklace holder in the background. Our bedroom has lots of green, so this little box fits right in.

Here's a side-by-side comparison.

Not bad, eh? Especially considering I bought nothing for this project. Otherwise, you'd be hard-pressed to make this for less than HomeGoods' awesome $7 price tag. But there's just something about making it yourself that's so much more satisfying than swiping your debit card, you know? Of course you do. :) Plus, the yellow wasn't really doing it for me.

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