This might sound crazy -- but sometimes I'll buy a vintage item, like a 1970's vintage bamboo and rattan tissue box cover, without thinking things through first. You know, things like: will a standard tissue box fit inside it?  

Seems like a simple enough question. That is, if you actually ask the question and figure out the answer before purchasing it. Not what happened here. However, there is a happy ending to this story.

   

 

Meet my vintage bamboo tissue box cover. When I saw it I absolutely flipped. (I was in the middle of a powder room refresh!) I found it at one of my favorite vintage shops that was, unfortunately, closing. But this was at their 40% off closing sale ($11.00)! Score!

Here's what I found about it on line:

 

 

Even if my bamboo tissue box cover was full price, it would have cost way less than either of the two I found online. (The first is $95 and the one above is listed for $130.)  

I couldn't have been happier bringing it home and envisioning it in the newly wallpapered and decorated powder room. 

Unfortunately, the box cover wasn't large enough to fit a standard box of tissues! But no worries - I was sure I could find a smaller box of tissues that would fit, right? Wrong! The only ones I found were online and sold in bulk at a ridiculously high price. It appears they're called "hotel tissues" or "hospital tissues" which was total news to me. 

After feeling sorry for myself for a short while, I got an idea. Why not make the tissue box smaller? 

I used a Sharpie to mark off all around the bottom of the tissue box that was sticking out of the tissue box cover, then I simply cut off that part of the box with an X-Acto knife.   

I then cut the actual bottom of the box from that remnant and taped it back onto the original box so that it had a bottom again to keep the tissues clean and stable inside the cardboard box.

I used painter's tape to hold it all together since it's easy to remove and I plan on using this cut down tissue box indefinitely -- why go the trouble of cutting up another box when I can just refill this one with tissues when needed? 

 

And voila!    

Now I can admire it, functioning as a vintage bamboo accent adding texture and warmth to my newly updated powder room. 

  

  Where there's a will, there's a way! 

 

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