I have proper magazine holders that I bought from Wal-Mart a million years ago; they're the perfect size for the amount of magazines I typically have on hand at one time and they sit nicely on my desk. But for a few of my classes this year my professors have asked us to keep old magazines on hand to cut out pictures for projects, and so I started saving magazines once I was done reading them, and they started piling up fast and I had nowhere to keep them.
I had bought a hair styling equipment holder from Bed Bath & Beyond that houses my hair dryer, curler and straightener, and I have to say it's been a handy addition to my dresser. There's also a hook so you can hang it on your bathroom door or towel rack (photo below). I held onto the box it came in for a while, since it was a great size and I thought I'd be able to find something useful to use it for. Turns out I did.
Getting Started
Of course you can use any size box you want (I just happen to have this one on hand and it was the perfect size), but make sure it's sturdy and big enough to hold all your magazines. Choose a paint colour that goes with your room, or wherever you plan on keeping your magazine holder. It doesn't need to match your wall colour or bedding/furniture perfectly, it can just be a colour that goes nicely with your decor. I actually mixed a lavender with white, black and a bit of blue. I also had to keep mixing in different amounts of each colour before I found the hue I wanted. My sister is very artsy and always has paint in the house so I just used what was here, but you could go to any art store in your area and just grab whatever colours you want. I personally love Michael's, but Curry's also has a good selection and is more cost efficient.
Before you start painting, cut off the top of the box so your magazines can stick out a bit if they need to (the box I used just happened to be shorter than the magazines). I used 3 coats of paint on mine, since the paint colour is kind of light and I needed to cover the picture on the box. If you're using a darker colour, you should only need about 2 coats, but feel free to do as many as you want to get the perfect colour.
After letting the paint dry for about 24 hours (not necessary but I needed a break!), I stuck on these jewels from Michael's with a glue gun (I tried to find some that were already sticky on the back, but no such luck).
The set came with different shapes and sizes, and some were just silver while some had a bit of colour to them, so I played around with them until I decided on a pattern I liked. I chose to do smaller jewels on the top and larger ones on the bottom, since I felt it balanced the weight of the different sizes nicely.
And there you have my first (and possibly not only) DIY creation. Try it yourself for somewhere chic and unique to keep your magazines!
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