Brilliant ways to reuse cardboard boxes

When you have a stack of cardboard boxes in the corner (too much online shopping this month?!), recycling is one option, but before breaking down those boxes, check out these super-creative and fun projects that repurpose cardboard into something useful and/or beautiful.

Here are 20 incredible uses for cardboard tubes.

If you’ve got some cardboard six-pack holders in your box pile, pull them out and make some coasters! You’ll need a basic ceramic tile for each coaster, felt, Mod Podge sealer and finish, and spray lacquer. This is an easy, inexpensive project and the coasters make great gifts.

When you have a big cardboard box from an appliance or piece of furniture, make sure a child gets to have fun with it! Those boxes can become playhouses, forts, castles and spaceships. For young children, provide help with cutting and assembly and make sure there are plenty of crayons, markers and/or chalk for decorating.

Discover 22 extraordinary uses for the junk in your garage.

This innovative, flexible shoe rack uses repurposed cardboard boxes that have been cut, folded and held into triangle shapes with colourful tape. Attach as many as you need for a fun and stylish shoe storage solution.

Or try building this double decker shoe organiser.

Appliance boxes are fun for kids to play with, but they can also have a second life as collapsible sawhorses! Despite their light weight, they’ll hold heavy workpieces without wobbling. And they’ll fold flat and store in seconds when the job’s finished. Plus, you can cut them to a comfortable working height with a circular saw. Every appliance dealer we called had cartons to give away.

Check out these zero waste uses for eggs, eggshells and egg cartons.

If you know a child who aspires to be the next hotter than hot DJ, all you need are some cardboard boxes and markers and you can create a setup for hours and hours of fun.

Don’t miss these furniture projects for kids rooms.

To keep small cords organised all you need is a shoe box and some toilet paper or paper towel rolls, try this handy hint: Fill a shoe box with as many empty toilet paper rolls that will fit vertically; then place a single small cord in each tube. This same setup could work for other small items, as well.

Follow these 43 tips for a cleaner, more organised garage right now.

Heartfelt gifts don’t have to cost a fortune. Use cardboard from a clean box to create a shadow box and add mementos or little gifts for someone you love.

Here’s a way to use a cardboard box to organise all of those plastic bags from the grocery store. Straighten them out and stack them into an organised pile. Then place the pile in a small cardboard box. Cut a hole in the box so you can pull out one bag at a time as you need it.

This plastic bag dispenser would also be handy in the basement or wherever you keep your cat’s litter box or near your dog’s leash. Then you’ll have a stash of bags ready when it’s time to clean up after your pet.

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Look carefully and you’ll see that this is an armchair made of heavy corrugated cardboard. This is extreme cardboard repurposing but it shows how versatile cardboard is and that if properly designed, items made of cardboard can be quite sturdy.