Different Options for Decorative Boxes

Decorative boxes can be used all around the home. Because they serve practical as well as design needs, and because you can find or make them in any design imaginable, it would be hard to find a room in your house that the right decorative box wouldn't fit in. In the kitchen, recipes can be kept in small decorative storage boxes with lids; in the living room remote controls can be stored in a box tucked under a side table; they can even hold cotton balls or washcloths in the bathroom. Open shelving is a great place to put matching boxes. You can use different boxes for different seasons, coordinate with holidays or a room's décor, or use them to give gifts in. There are many different kinds of decorative storage boxes, ranging from simple cardboard to elaborate storage trunks.

Filing papers is admittedly not the most exciting task in the world. Boxes of filed papers sitting in a corner of your home office is also not the most pleasing thing to look at. However, those papers are necessary to keep at hand, so you may want to think about replacing your plain brown or grey file storage boxes with pretty, colorful decorative file boxes. By doing so you can brighten the atmosphere of your whole office. If "colorful" is not what you are going for in your office, you could instead choose one of the more sleek, professional-looking decorative filing boxes. Either kind of file box will fulfill their practical purposes, and will help to turn your workspace into a more pleasant, productive area.

Hat boxes are usually round boxes made with thick paper or lightweight cardboard that are designed to hold and protect hats. These boxes can be plain and monochrome or patterned with bows, or anywhere in between. You can find "vintage-inspired" hat boxes that are made to resemble the traditional boxes of a century or more ago. There are also more modern-looking boxes. Decorative hat boxes can be reused for more things than just storing hats, although if you have a lot of hats you might just want to keep them around for their original purpose. But instead of keeping them all put away in a closest somewhere, you can choose a few of the prettiest boxes to set out in your room. If you just like the look of hat boxes, you can use them for decorative storage in the same way. The simpler hat boxes can be used as-is, or they can be embellished to make them unique. You can even make your own hat boxes completely from scratch. Because of their round shape and varied designs, it's not uncommon for hat boxes to be used and seen more than the hats originally stored in them.

Wrapping paper is the traditional method of keeping gifts a surprise for the receiver. Gift bags can also be used, and are especially helpful for items with a unique, hard-to-wrap shape. A nice alternative to either of these is decorative gift boxes. These boxes can be acquired in a number of ways. You can buy boxes specifically to use for giving gifts. These can often be bought in sets of matching boxes, and as they are usually made of lighter materials they are more suited to holding lightweight gifts. A decorative hat box can also be used as a pretty gift box -- although hopefully the person getting the gift will not be disappointed if they were expecting a hat! Any appropriately-sized plain box can be decorated by hand to use as a gift box. The thin cardboard storage boxes some stores give you when buying clothes as gifts are good candidates for this. If you decorate the box itself, there is no need to use wrapping paper. Some gift boxes, especially the sturdier ones, can be re-used by the gift receiver in his or her own home, making the box itself part of the gift.

Moving up from the smaller decorative boxes are storage trunks. These are generally made of wood, with hardwoods and lighter wood such as rattan and wicker all being common. While these trunks are not available in as many colors as other decorative boxes, they do come in many different designs, from more traditional to modern to exotic, and even the more basic trunks will look impressive in most rooms. Decorative storage trunks are usually larger than other wooden storage boxes, and can be used to hold practically anything, from out-of-season clothes to extra blankets to kids' toys. Many of the trunks are sturdy enough to be used for seating as well. A decorative storage trunk makes a great addition to bedrooms and living rooms, where one can even double as a coffee table.