Don't Throw Away Old Shoe Boxes, Use Them As Unique Wall Decor

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There are so many things you can do with the empty boxes around your home, allowing you to upcycle them rather than recycle them. When it comes to shoe boxes, we like looking for unique and adorable DIY craft ideas to give them new life. If you have a lot lying around, you could turn them into unique wall decor, as emchapO did with their collection of Nike shoe boxes in a TikTok video. This is an extremely easy project that lets you show off your love for certain shoe brands: You'll cut up the boxes and make a decorative collage to frame and hang. Oh, and if you keep your shoes in those boxes, now is a good time to come up with some genius shoe storage ideas to get them out so you can see them when you're picking which pair to wear each day.

To create your one-of-a-kind shoebox wall art, you will need to invest in poster frames. You can get the ELSKER&HOME 24x36 Poster Frame 3 Pack for $50 on Amazon. You'll also need scissors, a box cutter, craft glue, and some heavy books (or another item you can place on top of the finished work to hold everything in place as it dries).

Start by cutting up the shoe boxes — grab any parts you like that would look great as wall art. Be sure to snag images, words, and logos of all sizes so that you have smaller bits to fill in any empty spaces as you figure out how you want to lay things out. The next step is to do just that — start laying your cut-out box pieces on the cardboard backing of the frame, which is the perfect way to figure things out before committing to how your final art collage will look. Take your time. It's essential to do this step so that you don't end up with a bunch of gaps in your collage.

If you do have gaps or you want to spice things up a bit, there are other creative elements worth including in your collage. If you're hanging your collage in a room with lots of glitz and glamor, filling in gaps with some glitter in colors that match your shoe boxes is a great idea — after all, glitter has a way of adding a touch of elegance to ordinary items. You can also fill gaps with items like construction paper, gift wrap, or even magazine clippings. For gift wrap, if you're cutting up vintage shoe boxes, use some vintage wrapping paper. Magazine clippings of ads for your favorite shoe brands will add a little something extra to your collage.

Once you're happy with your layout, it's time to start gluing your box pieces into place. You'll want to use those heavy books for the time that the glue requires to dry (you can usually find this on the container). Once your work is dry, you can hang it on the wall and enjoy the collage art you created.