Cardboard Box Woman - a Side Table Inspired by Danbo Photos

I like cool furniture and when I needed to make a small side table I decided to make one as a fun DIY furniture project. Of course it ended up taking more time than expected...

I also have always liked the creative and artistic photos of Danbo (the cardboard box man) and I figured out that this shape can also be transformed into a piece of unique furniture. But after creating the 3d model in computer I found that the surface area that would touch the ground is so small that the table would be unstable. Therefore I created this female version which is more stable and also decided that I will try to make it look as a piece of funky furniture.

Step 1: Cutting Out the Body Parts and Assembly

First you have to manufacture a body. The one that I made is 52 cm high, 40 cm wide and 24 cm deep. It is made out of a 18 mm thick pine glulam but other sheet materials like plywood or mdf will also work fine. There is no need to use a thicker board.

I just recently bought a pocket hole jig and that is why I used this method to assemble most of the parts. After using it I definitely recommend this method but other more simple options will work as well. And since the figure is painted you can hide the screw heads with putty.

You can see from the video that I assembled the lower (body) part with the piece that forms the base (floor) for the head box before I attached it to the head box. I did so because then I have the screw holes to attach the body part to the head box after painting them white. It is a case of making the process easier due to the limited space inside the box where I had to use a screwdriver.

With this side table I decided that it makes little sense to add a drawer because the depth of the table is rather small and adding a drawer would make that space even smaller. So it is a simple solution with hinges.

Step 2: Sanding, Adding Wood Putty and Then Sanding Again

Some of the screw heads and some small cracks were filled with wood putty and then everything was ready for sanding. Of course all the surfaces must be cleaned thoroughly before painting.

Step 3: Creating a Pattern and Painting

First I painted everything white and wood surfaces in most cases need at least 2 layers of paint to be uniform and smooth.

Then attached the door with hinges.

The idea was to create a simple triangular pattern to make it look as a funky furniture. I found some coloured paper and cut out pieces to figure out where and how big I want the triangles to be. This way it is also possible to work out the width of the unpainted (white area) between the triangles. When adding the masking tape make sure that you cover enough area around the triangle because it is easy to push the brush a bit too far (yes, I did that).

And then it was painting. The paint should not be too fluid because it will more easily find its way under the edge of the masking tape and it is better if the layer of paint is thicker. If you haven't done things like this before then make a test piece to figure out how thick you can make the layer. Different paints smooth out differently when drying.

To paint the eyes and mouth I created a simple drawing and added double sided carpet tape behind the eyes and mouth area before cutting it out and attaching it. Make sure to use a tape that is thin and marked as removable (not all are).

Also I will say that when painting everything white I now would remove the hand parts from the body and then assemble it before painting the pattern. It makes the painting process a lot easier and when using pocket holes the screws allow to do it.

Of course there are a lot of different concepts and patterns you can create with such a project. For example you can paint it to look like the pirate Jack Sparrow or even some Star Wars character.