Practical and sustainable!

Upcycling idea for a DIY charging station

This upcycling idea is incredibly practical and sustainable at the same time. We’ve all been there – the socket is up on the wall but there’s no table nearby, so your smartphone is left dangling mid-air by its own cable as it charges. This is exactly where our creative idea can come to the rescue – you can craft your own charging station from an empty drinks carton to place your mobile in while it’s charging. Our acrylic paint spray and our acrylic markers will ensure it is given a snazzy look. There are almost 40 brilliant shades of spray paint to choose from. We’ll show you how easy it is to make.

Categories: Home decor
School and desk
Upcycling ideas
Products: Paint markers
Permanent spray
Materials: Paper, carton and cardboard
Plastic and foil
Difficulty: A bit more challenging
Downloads: Images (ZIP)

Step-by-step

Step 1

You can see everything that you’ll need in this photo. First, give the inside of the drinks carton a good wash. By following the outline of template, cut the carton to the desired shape. When it comes to spraying, you’ll need edding 5200 permanent spray in a colour of your choice. In our example, we used cream white and neon orange. For the delicate white pattern, you’ll need the edding 780 gloss paint marker.

Step 2

Before starting to spray, use paper or foil to carefully cover the area you’re working in. Once you’ve got everything ready, spray on the cream white spray paint. It’s the perfect undercoat for even more radiant neon colours. We recommend spraying in a criss-cross motion at a distance of around 25 cm as this is the optimum distance when applying spray paint. In our Spray basics section, we offer important tips for the perfect spraying technique.

Step 3

Let the first coat of paint dry thoroughly and then spray on the neon orange paint. Next, allow everything to dry properly.

Step 4

Finally, you can add further decoration to the carton using the white gloss paint marker. The fine tip enables you to create detailed patterns that will look really beautiful.

Step 5

Once your design is ready, it’s best to test out your new charging station right away by popping your mobile phone inside, connecting the cable and plugging it into the socket.