If you don’t know what an Ikea Expedit shelf is, just go out to the web or pinterest and do a search. Apartment Therapy even calls it the Worlds Most Popular Bookcase. It’s quite popular in our house. We have five plus the desk attachment. Cheap, versatile, and worth the drive to Tampa to buy them.
I’ve purchased a few Expedit storage boxes and they are relatively cheap. But there’s always the challenge of making my own that match the room’s décor. So I made a few for the guest room but wasn’t really happy with them. While the boxes matched the rest of the room, the Peltex Interfacing was expensive and the boxes were a bit floppy. Okay since I only store sheets and the grandkids’ clothes in them. But I wanted better. I wanted to use plastic canvas which is sturdy and less expensive.
I also wanted to use up some extra fabric from the sunroom update.
And I think the color combinations go really well with these storage containers that I purchased at Home Goods and are in my laundry room.
And here they are:
And I totally cheated on this storage box. I had an almost perfect-sized liquor box and just enough fabric to cover the front. I used modge podge to glue the fabric but I probably could have used spray adhesive. I did sew the handle but that could just be a cut out for a hand-hold.
These are the two Expedit shelves in the laundry room. They are on 6″legs which you can also get from Ikea.
Okay, I cheated on the one storage box, but for the other two I followed the instructions from the blog Make It & Love It. This was just what I needed but the fabric storage boxes from the tutorial were too small. Just 9.5″ tall by 11″ wide by 8.5″ deep. Basically, she uses fusible interfacing to make the fabric stiff then makes pockets for the plastic canvas on all sides and boxes the bottom. Very clever.
So I got my thinking cap on and figured out a formula to use her instructions and create Expedit-size boxes. 13″ tall by 12″ wide by 13″ deep. I did not use seam binding on the top of the boxes, I just turned them under 1/2″. The first box I used plastic canvas for the inserts but on the second I used cardboard that I cut out of liquor boxes. I actually liked the cardboard better–and it’s free. I also tried two different fusible interfacings–one that was midweight and the other was craft. I probably liked the midweight better but the craft was cheaper. So you know I’m going with the frugal version in the future.
This is not an easy DIY because making the boxed bottoms is confusing and sewing the top edge is awkward since the inserts are already in them. If you are interested in making your own Expedit boxes, I’ve created a PDF which you can click on below.
Any questions, let me know! I might be able to answer them!
I have 2 Expedit shelves, so stylish and useful. I love the box front! “I would sooo do that”, I murmured to myself and then scrolled down…hmmm gotta find a box…
So easy! But looks good. I thought about spray painting the box but then decided–I’m the only one who will ever see it. Other than the masses that read this post!
Hi
looks great. Where are the plastic boxes with the blue handle from?
thanks
Walmart! That’s about the only store we have around here. They come in lots of sizes and I have a bunch of them.