Keep Your Remotes Neat And Organized With This Milk Carton DIY

There are few things more frustrating than reaching for a remote only to find it's not where it should be. The answer — that is, crafting a holder to keep all the remotes in one handy spot — is far cheaper and easier than you might think. Cut and flatten three milk cartons, decorate them with your choice of finish, be it wallpaper or fabric, and fold each one into a triangular, open-ended box. Affix these to a simple base so they form a trio of conjoined boxes, and voilà! You have a new remote organizer you can sit on your coffee table, nightstand, or next to your entertainment center. You should be cleaning your TV remote more often than you realize, and having the device so neatly displayed may even prompt you to tackle the chore.

You'll need some milk cartons for this DIY. Gently wash the cartons with warm, soapy water and let them dry completely before you start making anything. After all, glue and paint won't stick to damp cardboard. If you want to finish your project with paint, acrylic craft paint works best on cardboard. We love the Apple Barrel Fruity Fusion 16-piece set for just over $20 from Plaid. Use glow-in-the-dark paint and you'll be able to find the holder even after the lights go out at the end of the night. Amazon sells a REALART set with 10 neon hues in 1.01-fluid-ounce bottles for under $13.

Looking for ways to use your leftover wallpaper? Paste the milk carton walls with flowing art nouveau patterns or dainty spring flowers. It's an easy way to match the organizer to your existing decor. Similarly, you can use fabric. If you sew, you might have some fabric scraps, or you can buy 18 x 21-inch square pieces of craft fabric in assorted patterns from Dollar Tree. Remember, the inside and outside of the boxes — or even the boxes themselves — don't have to match, finish-wise, so a little goes a long way.

If you plan to decorate the holder with paper or fabric, you'll need some craft glue. Elmer's Craft Bond dries clear and doesn't wrinkle. A 4-ounce jar costs under $3 at Walmart. You'll also need a general-purpose super glue for the joins and attaching decorative features. We like Aleene's DIY Craft Super Glue — a 0.53-ounce tube costs around $5. You'll also need some thick cardboard for the base. Hobby Lobby sells 8.5 x 11-inch sheets of extra heavy-weight cardstock for about $11. Head to Dollar Tree for rolls of thin decorative ribbon to finish the base and edges of your boxes and any other decorative items you wish to attach to the front of the holder: fabric bows, artificial sunflowers, acrylic crafting gems, and more. Tool-wise, you'll need scissors and possibly a paintbrush for glue or paint.

Using a pair of sharp scissors, cut the milk carton all the way around horizontally a third of the way down from the spout end. Discard the upper portion. Cut one of the four sides out of the carton, then cut out the base. Lay the remaining cardboard out flat. Paint one side with your acrylic craft paints or, if you're covering it with textile or paper, paint one side of the cardboard with craft glue and cut fabric to fit. Repeat on the other side of the cardboard and leave to dry. Do it all again with the other two milk cartons.

Fold each decorated cardboard piece into a triangle box by applying super glue to the two open edges and pressing them together. Glue the three finished boxes together to create a trapezoid. To create a base, place the holder on a sheet of thick cardboard and trace around it with a pencil. Add about a fourth-inch border all the way around, then cut out the shape. Glue the holder to the base, then embellish all the edges with ribbon and glue on your adornments of choice. If you've managed to put together something super cute, we'd even go so far as to consider this holder a must-have to update your home office or craft room. Use it to store all sorts of long, upright things like pens and pencils, paintbrushes, and more.