DIY: Decorative Drawer Organizer

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In our neighbourhood, it is completely normal to put unwanted but perfectly usable items on the front lawn. Passing neighbours will then eagerly pick up  these discarded treasures for their own houses. It is great for reusing, reducing, and saving money. My bar stools, martini glasses, nightstand, and colander were all scavenged this way. Obviously it needs to be an item that can withstand a deep clean, but otherwise, there is no limit. Visitors to our part of the city are often surprised and appalled, but we don’t care. More stuff for us!

I picked up a little wooden organizer earlier this summer. It had a few scuffs and pencil marks but was generally in good shape. It was really plain though. Here is how I spruced it up:

Materials

-one wooden drawer organizer
-one paint brush and acrylic paint
-beautiful patterned paper
-scissors
-rubber cement

1. If you pick up the drawer organizer from your neighbour’s lawn, give it a really good scrub with soap and water. Allow to dry completely.

2. Paint the inside of the organizer as well as the top edges of each section, like the turquoise sections in the photos above.  The inside and outside walls will be covered with paper, so they don’t need to be painted. Once the paint dries, flip the organizer over and paint the whole bottom section.

3. After all the paint dries, measure the of organizer: the outside height of the organizer, the inside height, the outside perimeter, as well as the inside perimeter of each individual sections. See the photo below for the “inside height” and “outside height.” Cut strips of the paper the same width as the outside edge that are long enough to wrap around the outside perimeter. Then cut strips of the paper the same width as the inside height that are long enough to cover all walls of the inside sections. Multiple shorter strips are fine, since the whole box doesn’t need to be covered in one single strip.

4. Cover one side of the outer perimeter with rubber cement and carefully line the strip of paper on the side with the glue, making sure to make it as straight as possible. This is very important, because if it slightly misaligned, it will be really difficult to attach the rest of the paper strip straight. Cover the next side of the box with rubber cement and cover that section with paper. Continue covering the sides with paper strips until all outer and inner walls are covered like in the photo below. Allow to dry completely.

5. Trim any edges of paper that go over the top of the sides of the organizer.