Pizza Box Checkers

Faux wood checkers game and storage box to make from a recycled pizza box.

by Twila Lenoir

You’ll be doing a double-take when you make this faux wooden checkers box. The finish looks so real that you might have to pick up the box to know that it’s really a cardboard flip-top box that used to hold pizza.

Craft Supplies:

flip top cardboard box (such as a clean, take-out pizza box)
white paint
black permanent marker
brown liquid shoe polish
high gloss spray
velcro
checker pieces (I bought mine at a yard sale, but you could paint wooden circles in black and white)
optional: wood cut outs (mine are crickets and frogs)

Project Instructions:

1. Paint the box white, inside and out, and let the paint dry.

2. Apply the liquid shoe polish with the applicator built in the bottle. Drag the applicator across the top of the box, going only one way. Do the same with the sides and the inside of the box. This effect is so good that my mother thought the box was wood until she picked it up!

3. Make a square template on paper in the same size that you will need for the box. Make 7 lines down and 8 lines across in even squares. When you get the template looking the way that you want it, transfer it to your box.

4. Paint every other square white, as shown in the photo.

checkers (11K)5. When the painted squares are dry, outline them in black magic marker.

6. You will need 12 checker pieces each for each set.

7. If you wish, glue on wood cut-outs or other decorations.

8. Spray the entire box, inside and out, with high gloss sealer and let the sealer dry.

9. If your box has room for a velcro strip then glue the two velcro pieces into place on the inside of the box and the box lid.

10. When you are finished playing checkers, store the checker pieces, score pad and pencil inside the box until next time.