I saw these adorable teacher toolboxes on Pinterest and other teacher blogs that I follow and just HAD to make it the day that I found it! While my husband was home for lunch, I started preparing and was able to just complete this from start to finish in just over an hour. Let me explain how I did it. It was super easy.
First, I made sure that the storage cabinet was available and reserved it for pickup near where my husband works, because let’s face it, I didn’t want to drive all the way down the busiest road near me during the busiest time of day to get it. 🙂 This is what it looks like and how much it costs. I believe you can also get it at Lowe’s, but it is navy blue. I don’t mind the silver, so I just kept it, but I also saw others who spray painted it.
Oh, and I made my husband stop by Walgreens to get me some double sided tape to make the whole thing easier to attach. Some teachers have used Mod Podge to attach the labels to the inside of the drawers, and I had some, but the tape just seemed easier. And it was!
While my husband was at work for the second half of the day, I got to working on my labels. I made them myself after researching the dimensions that other teachers used. There were some slight differences in the measurements, but luckily I chose one that worked PERFECTLY! The larger labels are 2.2″ x 4.25″ and the smaller labels are 1.3″ x 2″. I decided to use the chevron backgrounds and frames from Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs, and used the ribbons from Lovin Lit. I love how bright they look!
I printed these labels out using white card stock so that they would be really sturdy and carefully cut them out. I usually recruit my husband to cut for me because my hand tends to hurt even from cutting for a few minutes, but I just couldn’t wait to do it. When my husband came home with the storage unit and the tape, I got to work taping it all in.
Now, for the first box I did I put a horizontal strip of double sided tape on the top and bottom of the label, but I didn’t like how it ran through the white frame. For the rest, I put a vertical strip on the left and right side of the label and I like it even better. You don’t really see the tape unless you look very carefully, but I still didn’t want it running through the center of it.
So there you have it! I would say making the labels took the longest for me, about 45 minutes because I kept trying different backgrounds and fonts. Cutting only took a few minutes and I think I spent about 10 minutes taping it. If you don’t spend forever on the labels like I did, then it’ll definitely take less than an hour. If you like my labels, you can download them for free on Teachers Pay Teachers so you don’t have to spend any time doing that part of the project.
Have you made a teacher’s toolbox? If so, I’d love to see how it came out! Place a link to yours in the comments!
