Tissues and (faux) Concrete

Tissues and (faux) Concrete

Hello September?! About two years ago, I posted a little tissue box round up, since, well… tissues are important! … and need I remind you, this blog is all about “good design of any kind”. Last year I mentioned the Kleenex x Isaac Mizrahi collab, which brings us to 2015- and it’s time for another tissue box update!

Unfortunately this year’s pickings were a little slim. 🙁 Seriously, for something that is used by so many people every day, and that sits in almost everyone’s home, they could be so much more fun and pretty! Anyway- I did find a few good ones, so let’s begin:

tissue boxes from Target via happymundane.com

First: Target’s Up & Up in-house brand always seems to be dependable when it comes to nice tissue box designs. I found this great set of clean and graphic motifs and totally stocked up.

tissue boxes from Puffs via happymundane.com

Even though this set from Puffs is meant for kids, I totally would rock this in my house because they’re just do much fun!

Kleenex x Betsey Johnson via happymundane.com
Finally, Kleenex continues their great designer “Expressions” collaboration series with Betsey Johnson. These box designs totally capture her bold and whimsical style. (I love the zippers!)

And… that’s all the decent designs I could find currently out in the markets around me. As I mentioned, I feel there’s definitely a great opportunity for tissue boxes to step up their design game (Tissue people, call me! ;-P) But in the meantime, I have an easy solution if you can’t find a tissue box with a good design…

Cover it!

…Which brings us to part two of this post. Awhile back I was thinking about making a tissue box cover and thought, wouldn’t a concrete one be super cool? However, the thought of trying to make one out of concrete seemed way too daunting and totally impractical, (not to mention I wasn’t even sure how I’d do it logistically! Luckily, I was recently introduced to Chasing Paper!

Chasing Paper is a company that makes wallpaper. They have some awesome designs- but they also have another great feature… They’re REMOVABLE! I know a lot of people are intimidated by the idea of wallpapering a wall, but Chasing Paper’s product can take a lot of that fear away. The rolls are self stick (so no having to deal with messy glues) and are removable so if you mess up, you can just take it down and fix right back up. It’s also ideal for renters who can’t have anything permanent.

When I first heard about this wallpaper, my mind immediately went to thinking I could totally treat this like contact paper. (and if you’ve read this blog for awhile, you’ll remember “contact paper is your friend!) The best part of all of this? THEY HAVE A PHOTOREAL CONCRETE PAPER!! YESS!!! I mean- if you’ve ever fantasized about living in a concrete wall loft, or maybe wanted to give a space a more industrial or urban feel- you can now get the look without any real commitment!

So…. anyway, the kind folks at Chasing Paper sent me two sheets of the photoreal concrete wallpaper to test out. My concrete tissue box dream could now become a reality!

I started by picking up a plain and simple plastic tissue box cover (I got mine at Container Store) and covered it with the paper. Because the paper is meant as wallpaper, it’s thicker than say, normal contact paper, making it much more durable and not as easy to rip.

DIY faux concrete tissue box cover via happymundane.com

DIY faux concrete tissue box cover via happymundane.com

Once you get me started contact papering, you know it’s all downhill from there, lol! I started looking all over the house for other things I could “faux” concrete- I recovered a magazine holder, a small wooden picture frame, and I even put a strip on a small clear cylindrical vase, which made for an ever so modern touch to my office!

DIY faux concrete tissue box cover via happymundane.com

Chasing Paper has a bunch of other cool designs to spice up your life, so check out their site for more ideas!

Hope you all have a great Labor Day weekend!