Try This: Key Storage

Enlarge Image Image Gallery An old cigar box makes a playful place to safeguard and organize your keys. Look for ones made of paper-covered solid wood. Susan Wasinger

Even fervent nonsmokers have to admit the cigar box is a beguiling artifact. The intricate designs, gilded embellishments and spicy colors offer up a whiff of tropical Hemingway. Plus, these little jewels often are made of aromatic rainforest woods too good to waste. This simple project turns a discarded cigar box into handy key storage. Put it on a wall in a kitchen corner or next to the door, and you’ll always be able to find the keys.

1. Ornate cigar boxes are still a mainstay in the cigar trade, and cigar shops can go through dozens in a day. We picked some up at a local smoke shop that sells the boxes for a buck and donates the proceeds (kept in a cigar box, of course!) to the local Humane Society.

2. Depending on the size of the box, you probably can get three rows of keys across and two or three down. Get tiny screw-in hooks with a short shank (short enough that the screw end won’t go out the back of the box). Use a thumbtack to mark and start the holes you will screw into. Pliers make screwing in the hooks easier on the hands.

3. Find a fun, attractive knob for your key box. The screw that comes with the knob will probably be too long as it is made to attach knobs to thicker cabinet doors. Replace it with one that is about 1/2 -inch long or less. Drill a hole about 1 inch in from the opening edge of the box and about halfway down, then attach the knob.