Urban Crafter Paulownia and Plywood Rectangle Box 30 x 25.5 x 11.5cm

I love this wooden box. It's well made and large enough to store all different kinds of things in. I painted the outside of the box with a layer of Gesso and then gave it 3 coats of white chalk paint, sanding between each coat, and then, once the paint was dry, I stuck blue painters tape in a row across the top of the box and painted stripes in pale blue chalk paint. The trick to stopping the paint from bleeding under the tape is to first paint over the top of the tape and the whole top of the box with a layer of the white paint, or whatever the base colour is that you've used and then, when the white paint is dry, paint the blue stripes over the top.

(I learnt that from a lady on YouTube and it works very well, so I thought I'd pass it on!) If you do use chalk paint you must seal it with clear wax. You can apply the wax with a brush or a lint free cloth, like an old T shirt. You rub the wax on, leave it for 30 minutes, and then buff it off again. The more you buff the wax the shinier the finish will be. You can also spray varnish over the box if you don't want to use wax. I lined the inside of the box with navy blue velvet, and glued a pretty moulding to the top of the box. In case you're interested in trying chalk paint, I buy it from a shop that's in Victoria called: www.caprioleshabbychic.com.au

I thoroughly recommend buying this box and all the boxes sold here are, without doubt, the nicest and the least expensive I've seen online.