Mini Project: Customized Tape Dispenser / Cost: $

More often than not, tape dispensers are boring and utilitarian. Dull as dirt. And when they're not... well, they tend towards the idiotic.

Seriously, Scotch? This was the best you could come up with? I'm embarrassed for both of us.

So, for every one one kinda stylish tape dispenser like this:

Reasonably clever. If you don't understand the joke, then you've just made me feel old.

You get a thousand plain black hunks of plastic and at least one monstrosity. or example:

What the f%$k?! This makes me want to give up on humanity completely.

So, in short, it's tough to get a tape dispenser that doesn't put you to sleep or make you want to pour acid on your eyes just so you can't see the horror anymore.

So what's a style-minded, budget focused girl (or guy) to do? Tweak an existing tape dispenser on the cheap. Yeah, it won't be fancy, but it'll at least match the rest of your office stuff and look different from anything you can buy.

Basically you're going to get a plain, old plastic tape dispenser... yeah, the kind you normally throw out when you're done with the roll of tape.

This'll run you, what, maybe $3 if you spurge for the name brand stuff... less if you go for something from a dollar store (but really, why not treat yourself to the nice stuff... you're worth it!). What's key is that you get the tape that comes in a clear plastic dispenser and that you make sure the plastic is reasonably strong and that the tape cutting edge looks like it's there for the long haul. It'd suck if you do this project and the thing breaks... okay, it's not the end of the world, but maybe a waste of about 10 minutes total. But really, why would you want to do this twice? Are you bored? If you are, come over to my house and do my laundry then, rather than make up busy projects for yourself.

Okay, now that you've obtained an appropriately sturdy clear plastic tape dispenser (and have possibly done my laundry), pop the tape and the label out. This is surprisingly easy to do on a decent roll of tape (if it breaks now, at least you saved yourself from a waste of time. Now go out and buy nicer tape!) and it's the reason you can make what's supposed to be a temporary tape dispenser more permanent.

So put the tape roll off to the side and then toss out the paper label (or, alternately, scrap the rest of this project and then follow the steps from the Custom Post-it Holder project to make a matching tape holder. Look at you, thinking outside the box!).

All joking aside, a small flat craft brush is a good choice for this project.

Now you're going to need some decent quality paint and a paintbrush small enough to paint a tape dispenser, but large enough not to make the process take all year. I used a craft brush and some acrylic paint I'd had since... well, I'd had it for long enough not to remember when I picked it up. The point here is not that I'm forgetful, the point is you don't need fancy paint.

Yup. I taped the center part.

Now, the trick that keeps this project looking slick and professional is that you're not going to paint the outside of the dispenser; you're going to paint the inside. This makes the spiffy effect of a color with a thick layer of gloss over top of it. It looks much more expensive than just a plain old Scotch tape dispenser, that's for sure. You'll to need to be rather precise so that the paint is on the inside and ONLY the inside. If it gets on the outside the whole effect is lost and it just looks sloppy and accidental rather than like something you paid exorbitant amounts of money for. Of course, you didn't pay obscene amount of money, but why let people know that? Try masking off the edges with tape (I know you have some) if you don't feel you've got the coordination to keep the paint where it needs to be. Goodness knows I needed to.

See... I suck at painting too!

Once you get the painting done, chances are it'll look like ass. This is because you suck at painting. Okay, it's not... it's because a lot of acrylic paint is somewhat translucent, especially if you use a lighter color like the bronze I used here. You'll need to let your first coat dry and then do several more layers of paint (the lighter/cheaper your paint, the more layers you're likely to need. If you used something like wall paint, though, you might be fine with just one coat). Don't get ahead of yourself and not give the thing time to really dry. You'll just end up scratching the semi-wet paint coat at some point and mucking up your hard work. Take some time. I did this project in between other stuff, so I likely waited a full day between coats. You probably don't have to wait that long, but play it on the safe side. Paint often looks dryer than it actually is.

After a number of paint layers you'll notice that the color has become opaque (AKA: "it's not letting light through it anymore" for those of you who skipped art class). Once this happens and the last layer is dry, you're ready to reassemble it.

Many... MANY layers of bronze paint. It was stupidly transparent

Pop the tape roll back in (make sure the sticky side of the tape end is pointing down or the damn thing won't work) and call it a day. You've now got a nicely coordinated dispenser that doesn't look like a stupid plastic shoe. Congrats. That means you're one step ahead of anyone who actually owns the stiletto dispenser, and that's gotta feel good.

A tape dispenser in the wild... well, in the wilds of my old desk, that is.

Remember, it's easy to find the plain tape rolls at office supply store, so just stock up on those when the original roll runs out (this is why I told you to splurge on the nice tape dispenser... so it'll last).

Final project cost to me: $3
Time to complete project: About 10-15 minutes

Project # 2: Semikolon-esque Magazine Files / Cost: $$

I have a horrible lust for all things Semikolon.

If you've never seen their products before and like color then SEEK THESE OFFICE SUPPLIES OUT! Seriously, this company gets how to make sleek office supples in a rainbow of color options in a way no one else seems to. Unfortunately their products aren't particularily cheap. They aren't ridiculous, but they're in a mid-range that's a little bit out of my range right now, at least if I want to do my entire home office in their line.

My plan is to slowly but surely pick up a few pieces here and there (in the magenta and grass green colors if you were wondering) and eventually have a home office that's all Semikolon or things that match Semikolon... in, like, 10 years or so because really... this stuff is frustratingly priced. It's priced low enough that I can actually buy it, but high enough that I can't buy much of it at any time. Ah well, I should just be happy it exists and just eventually resort to petty crime so I can afford the overpriced secretary they make.

I was in need of some magazine files, but the Semikolon ones were just a bit too steep for me at the time. Thankfully I bumped into some extremely cheap wooden magazine files at Ikea: Knuff. They were on sale for $3.99 each, so I snatched up three. In retrospect I should have bought more since my Ikea no loger carries these exact ones, but what can you do? It's hard to go to Ikea and not spend eight times what you meant to... I was trying to be vaguely fiscally responsible.

Wood is great because you can paint it quickly without a lot of drama. I figured it wouldn't be too hard to make these puppies look like the Semikolon magazine files I longed for.

The first step was to prime the files. Untreated wood is exceptionally thirsty. If you try to use acrylic paint directly on wood you'll find that you'll have to use tons of it because the wood soaks up a large amount of the water in the paint quickly, so it won't spread very far before you have to reload your paintbrush. The best way to combat this is to do a primer coat. Primer paint is significantly cheaper than regular paint, so you can use a lot without spending a lot. It also creates a smooth surface that your paint will adhere well to. In this case I used gesso, a primer used on canvas, to prime my boxes. Why gesso? Because it's a cheap primer and I had a bunch already sitting in a box wanting something to do. You can pick up a reasonably-sized jar of gesso at art and craft supply stores. For projects like this don't bother with fancy gesso; you just need the most basic one you can find. Liquitex Basics brand gesso is fine, or any other gesso around the $5-10 price point. A small container should be enough. I used maybe 1/4th of the container you can see in the picture on these files.

Prime the entire file, inside and out (unless you're planning to leave parts unfinished. Mask those parts off with tape before you prime if you're going this route). I started by doing the bottoms, waiting for them to dry, and then priming everything else. If you end up with any dried gesso lumps (which I did since my gesso was old and a bit dehydrated) you can use a fine grade piece of sandpaper to lightly sand them out.

Once the priming is done now you can break out the paint. Primer is not an attractive finish, so I highly recommend that you paint overtop of it, even if you're planning to stay the same color as the primer. While paint primer has a nicer color than car primer (ewww... primer grey and brown... I shudder just thinking of the cars that drive around painted in just primer), it still has an unfortunate flat finish that doesn't have the richness of a proper acrylic paint. Take the extra time and paint over every speck of it.

For this project I wanted to simulate the white borders of the Semikolon products on my files, so I took white acrylic paint and painted all of the edges a bit beyond where I thought the bands of white would be (having some paint overlap is a good thing). Preciseness was unnecessary at this point since I was going to be masking off things in the next coat. Expensive paint was unnecessary too... I just used cheap Liquitex Basics paint. You're not painting a masterpiece... you just need a basic color with good performance, which the Liquitex Basics brand provides.

After I painted the white edges I then masked them off with masking tape. Rather than using a ruler and precisely masking off a set measurement I just used thinner masking tape and, by eye, placed it so half the tape was on one side, and the other half was on the other. It's not that hard really... people are somewhat decent at cutting things in half by eye.

When you're placing the masking tape (or painter's tape if you have it) make sure you press it down on the file very firmly. You don't want it to accidentally peel off while you're painting the main color. Don't worry, even if you press it down firmly it'll still peel off without pulling up your paint.

Now that your white corners are masked off, get your main color ready. If you can purchase your main color premixed either in a tube from an art supply store or mini pail from a home renovation store do this. It's way easier than trying to guesstimate how much you'll need and premixing it or, even worse, trying to remix the same color again after you've run out mid-project (which I had to do on this project... I made it work, but it SUCKED to have to so). I didn't realize this when I was doing this project, but at places like Home Depot you can buy small containers of their wall paint fr about $5 mixed to any of the paint chips they have. This is supposed to be for trying out a color on your wall or something, but there's no reason you can't use it on a project like this to get the exact color you want. Depending on how dark your color is you may need to do two coats (darker usually equals more coats to get the color even).

When your paint is partially dry you can peel off the masking tape. If you're using house paint this isn't as crucial, but art paint sometimes doesn't peel off cleanly if you take off the masking tape once it's completely dry. The part attached to whatever you painted can sometimes stay attached to what's on the tape, so when you pull the tape off it makes the edge ragged. Make any small paint touchups you need to.

After the paint fully dries you're done. Semikolon-look, but MUCH cheaper (especially if you already have the paint and supplies)

Final project cost to me: $12
Time to complete project: About 2 hours spaced over many small painting sessions

Mini Project #2: Headphone Hook / Cost: $ to $$

Uggg! Last month's race to finish the first draft of my Masters thesis was brutal. I didn't even have the time to do any major home projects last week. I did, however, manage to do a tiny one.

I attend online classes that require headphones with a mike. For the past 9 months I've just hung them off of my computer screen... which is a tiny thing, but it's really just so ugly that it bugs me on a visual level in a way that has no real relation to the actual size of the decorating problem.

What's a girl to do? I use the damn things so often it doesn't make sense to put them away, but they just get in the way all hanging off my screen all willy nilly.


Solution: cheap hook!





I had this hook lying around the house... I think it came from Ikea for some ridiculously cheap price. Seriously, you can get these things dirt cheap from home repair stores and the like. If you feel like being fancy, try this slick Moen hook from Home Depot for $19.99. Or how about these puppies that are on sale... they respect my deep love of orange AND are on sale at three for $7.49.

 If you're cursed with some walls made of solid concrete like I am (they are a decorating NIGHTMARE I tell you!) you still have options. 3M (and likely some other companies too) makes hooks that use a super-strong adhesive to stick to your wall, making screwing or nailing the blasted things in thankfully unnecessary. I remember when they used to be ugly plastic nubs that could barely support any weight; now they're actually decent looking and can support some serious poundage (this hook supports up to 5 pounds of weight without falling off your wall, is a somewhat reasonable $12.98, and is snappy-looking to boot).

Lucky for me my computer sits against a regular wall, so all it took was a minute to nail the thing in and presto, more tidy headphone solution!

Now, this doesn't solve the problem of the headphones being ugly (that's a mod project I probably won't get around to until school is done, but at least it gets them out of the way in a manner that doesn't make me loopy.

Final project cost to me: $0 !!!

Time to complete project: About 1 minute

Mini Project #1: Custom Post-it holder / Cost: $$

I'll admit it: I have an unhealthy love of Post-it notes. Wherever I work you can always tell which desk is mine as it's the one the looks like it's completely held together with those little yellow stickies. I use them as reminders, for class notes, for organizing projects, for bookmarks... I just love the things. Really, if you have to have a vice, Post-its aren't a bad one.

So anyway, I just started a job that requires me to work from home and, with the inevitable restructuring of my office space that comes with such a new job (oh trust me, there'll be more on that in here later), has come the need for copious amounts of office supplies including, my friend and yours, Post-its.

I was out shopping for said supplies when I found the following: a Post-it holder (I've seen them in the $11-15 range at office supply stores. I picked up mine for a bit under $11 at WalMart).

Of course, it was cursed with a hideous flower print theme, but the box noted something every vaguely crafty person loves to see: the unit had removable faceplates.

Yes, removable faceplates. If something has changeable faceplates, chances are you can easily make your own faceplate yourself... and I just happened to have some amazing chiyogami paper that was dying to be made into something pretty.

Chiyogami paper is a Japanese paper whose pattern is made by layer after layer of silkscreening. The stuff is just gorgeous and has a lot of uses in decorating if the prints suit your fancy (it'll be coming up in several future projects here). It's reasonably easy to order online, however I happen to be lucky and live decently near a store that sells it: The Paper Place. If you're in the Toronto area I highly recommend a stop at this store. If not, they ship to Canada, the US, and the UK. The paper runs a bit on the expensive side at around $16 for a 24x36 inch sheet, but it goes a lot longer than you'd think and the quality is superb. I estimated I used about $0.50 worth, but that might even be a bit high.

If chiyogami isn't your thing or it's too hard for you to get, you can use any sort of decorative paper such as wrapping paper or scrapbooking paper; just make sure it's a smaller print and it's something you love. It doesn't hurt if it's also paper that'll match a Post-it note colour.

To get started, take the Post-it holder apart... okay, let's be honest here, yank the damn thing apart. It's awkward and frustrating, but only for a few minutes, I promise.

Then you want to take the vile, disgusting faceplate off. Post-it makes these holders in several prints... all of them range from mostly off-putting to truly tragic. Thankfully this one won't be staying around for long.

Use the soon-to-be-rejected faceplate as a stencil and trace its shape onto the back of your paper. I probably should have turned my faceplate over so as to spare my eyes from the horror.

Now that you've got the faceplate shape traced, resist the urge to immediately burn the old faceplate; you may need it later unfortunately. Now cut out the new faceplate (you may want an X-acto knife for the inner portions).

Now it's time to put the holder back together. If you have nice, thick paper just pop the new faceplate in place and attach the transparent cover. If your paper is a bit thinner, like mine, you may need the old faceplate at this point. Put the old faceplate in right side up, and then overlay the new faceplate on top of it before you add the cover. This will give your new paper the bracing it needs to smoothly align with the clear cover's curves. If your paper is thin and the old cover shows through (or you just can't bear the thought of the old cover being within 50 feet of you) you can always trace a second faceplate out of white card stock and use that instead.

In about 5 minutes you've gone from freakish to fab. I've got a lot of chiyogami left, so I'll be customizing quite a few more supplies in the future in hopes of eventually having a fully matched office set (but not too matchy-matchy... that ends up creepy and/or artificial).

Final project cost to me: $11

Time to complete project: About 5 minutes