Actual Cardboard Box Tutorial

This is my cardboard box from the liquor store and some extra pieces of cardboard I found in the library trash. My mat knife or carpet cutter. My ruler, marking pen and painter's tape is somewhere on the floor along with my hot glue gun. Ready? My box is 14 inches wide, 10 inches deep and 12 inches tall.

I used one of the extra pieces of cardboard to cut a center piece with peak. My box isn't as tall as I would have wanted--but we're working with what we've got here. I hot glued the center piece to the box. I marked and cut some of the window openings and now have to double cut the front center panels.

Here's the box after about 20 to 30 minutes (honest) of work. I have a little door that I later remove. The flaps are down. I remembered that this was the way I had done the roof--not the other way. Forgive me! These flaps are too long and will cover the windows so I had to trim about 1.5 to 2 inches off the edge of each flap all the way around. See how I removed a section of flap for the center of the roof?

In order for the roof to stick out from the sides of the house--I added hinges (hot glue) that I made from the cut off flaps. Fold in half, glue and stick onto the under side of the flaps. Then comes the hard part. Adding a line of glue at the crease, folding the flap down and HOLDING the flap down till the glue hardens. I am NOT good at WAITING. So I taped the flaps after awhile. A short while.

Here's my house. Taped and waiting for the next steps. I cut more windows in the bottom by the door and cut two windows in each side of the box--one over the other--level with the ones on the front.

Tomorrow I will decide if the house gets spray painted black or sponge painted Gingerbread Brown. I will also go purchase some black FunFoam to cut into shingles. If the local 5 & Dime has some Halloween items--I may get some "decor".

I'm going to have to figure out how to get the roof flaps to all connect. Right now the corners are open. Got to "sleep on it". It was good to actually make a house. I found some of my tutorial was way off base. But my box is looking way cute.