Thanks to those who donated last week I can keep the litter clean and fresh for the rest of the month. Now it's time to feed the kitties with this fabulous tutorial...how to turn those litter buckets into toy boxes. One of last week's donors commented how she uses her Tidy Cats buckets for this very purpose but she hadn't had time to "pretty them up." Little did she know, that was the next project I was working on. But, I took a slight detour from the design I was working on based her "not enough time" comment. I've made it a little less labor intensive to make and added a detail that would help the kids keep things organized without mom's help.
Isn't it fun?! I wanted to use primary colors on my toy box so I didn't paint the lid or the center of the handle but feel free to change the color of those to suit your design.
If you love it, please consider donating to help feed the kitties and I'll post another cute use for these kitty litter buckets next week. Here's the link to donate:
Here's how I made the toy box. Before you start painting you'll want to sand the entire surface of the bucket with an
extra fine grain sand paper. Then wash and dry completely before you start painting. You can pop the handle out of its "socket" and spray the bucket and handle with 2-3 coats of spray paint meant for plastic.
Once it's dry, you decide whether to leave it as-is or add a detail or two to help the kids keep their toys organized (so that you don't have to). If your kids don't read yet you can Mod Podge on a picture of the toys that belong in the bucket. If they do read, add the words. And viola! You have a fun toy box that doesn't look all that much like a kitty litter bucket for the cost of a half can of spray paint.
make holes in the sides of your kitty litter bucket. In a smaller Tidy Cats litter bucket I can comfortably fit 3 holes in the narrow side and four on the wider side. In the larger bucket I like 4 and 5 holes.
