DIY Drawer Shelves

Remember this post where I bemoaned the blank wall space in my living room? Well I do. I posted it in January. In February, I acquired a pallet from my Father in Law for $0.00. I was pumped until Adam told me it was way too heavy to hang on our rental's wall {aka we would end up losing our security deposit}. No bueno. So back to the creative drawing board I went.

I was working with a limited budget (>$20), but I knew I wanted shelving and I knew I wanted it to be something you don't see everyday. Then I had a thought: Dresser Drawer Shelves. I was sure it was an original idea until I searched Pinterest and found a few other people had already thought it.

Bummer. Apparently there really is nothing new under the sun. But, I figured I could my own spin on them to make them uniquely ours. So here is how they turned out:

I'm tickled with the end result!! They add some much needed charm to our Ikea'd out apartment.

For this DIY Project I used:

 1. Drawers. Preferably made of real wood. I found mine at a local thrift store. The nightstand they came from was $10 and I asked if I could just take the drawers and leave the nightstand for the store to dispose of. They obliged. (You might want to check the free section on Craigslist or Freecycle and you could score some for free, I had no such good fortune)
 2. Paint- I used 3 small bottles of acrylic craft paint in dark brown.
 3. Sand paper
 4. Wrapping paper- I used this roll from the Container Store. It was left over from a project I did in Grey's nursery. You could also use wallpaper or contact paper I suppose.
 5. A glue stick or double sided tape
 6. Nails, hammer and laser level

Time: 1-2 hours
Cost: $12 for the drawers and the paint, everything else I had on hand

The Process:

First, you will need to sand down the sides and back of the drawers. I decided not to paint the front of mine because I liked the wood grain and the hardware.

Then give those babies a good coat of paint. If you are lucky enough to find some cool vintage drawers with joints and character you could really skip the painting all together, but I was not so fortunate so I painted away. I gave my drawers 2-3 good coats of paint and that seemed to do the trick.

After they dried, I cut my wrapping paper to fit into the bottom and glued it in (You could totally get away with double sided tape if you pleased).

Hanging them on the wall was pretty simple for me, just two nails for each drawer. But I can see how it might get tricky if you get drawers that are a little different than the ones I have. I recommend looking at the bottom of the drawers before you decide to run with the project and make sure they will hang flat on the wall.

After they were up, the fun part began... dressing my new drawer shelves. I ran around my apartment like a kid on Christmas morning snatching up treasures.

 I forgot to snap a photo of the nightstand "before" but I found one really similar on Google. Who doesn't love a good before and after? I know I do!

Yay for the feeling of accomplishment. And when that feeling comes at a $12 price tag it feels even better. Now go get your DIY on!

xoxo KtB

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DIY Showoff
Keeping it Simple 
Homemaker on a Dime