I'm gearing up to give the hallway a makeover - new paint, new carpet, new artwork. (All of these tasks are part of my 101 list too.)
Our doorbell speaker is on one wall, and it's kind of an eyesore. I wanted to cover it, but it still needs to "breathe" because we still need to hear the doorbell.
I tried a variety of boxes and packages on for size, and finally hit the jackpot with this little wooden crate. I think it came from the packaging of some fake apples. Yes, I own fake apples.
A perfect fit, but it needed some prettying up.
I found an image I wanted to use and resized it to match the dimensions of the bottom of the crate. Then I flipped the photo so it was a mirror image and printed it on inkjet iron-on transfer paper.
After that, I trimmed off the excess paper.
I found some cotton fabric I had on hand, and measured and cut a piece that would be big enough to wrap around the bottom of the crate with some excess to fold over on the inside.
I ironed out the wrinkles, centered the transfer on the fabric and followed the package instructions to iron the transfer on the fabric.
Next I peeled the paper off the transfer.
After that, I was ready to attach the fabric to the crate. I draped the fabric on the bottom of the crate, sort of like a miniature tablecloth on a tiny table.
Then I flipped the whole thing over, wrapped the fabric around the edges and began stapling the fabric to the inside of the crate, first starting with a staple in the middle of one side, then in the middle of the opposite side. (And continuing on to the third and fourth sides.)
I pulled the fabric taut and stapled the fabric on each side, working my way out from the middle staple to the corners. Next, I dealt with the corners by folding the fabric over the edge and stapling.
Then all that was left was to test to make sure we could still hear the doorbell once the cover was on the speaker. Perfectly audible!
Now onto the rest of the hallway projects!