Monday, August 16, 2010

3 drawer upcycle project

Here is a fun project I did last week while preparing for the Artwalk (which, by the way, totally gobbled my time and attention, sorry for the bloggy neglect!) I needed display shelving for our booth and didn't want to spend any money. I remembered we had an old waterbed set with a six drawer pedestal base, so The Welding Man helped me with this recycle/upcycle project on three of them. I've seen clever drawer redos in blogland and knew we could knock this one off "toot sweet."



I asked him to install a shelf in each drawer, putting each one at a different height. And since I was up to my eyeballs in other projects, he primed and painted all three drawers. Whattaguy! This is a redo that can totally be done by anyone out there even if you don't have an accommodating Welding Man in your household. What's that Christopher Lowell used to say before he went Hollywood on us? "You can do it!"

So here is the first, a pretty turquoise blue number to which I added some very cool scripty tissue paper I'd saved for projects such as these. After first crumpling up the paper slightly then smoothing it out to cover any small irregularities in the wood, I Mod Podged it down. You have to have a gentle hand with tissue paper because once it is wet and stuck on, you CANNOT move it. Also, do NOT touch the wet tissue until it is dry. A piece will lift off on your fingertip. Don't ask me how I know this. ;0)


The tissue came in two colors, so I used the darker shade for the horizontal surfaces and let it dry thoroughly. Then I glazed all the edges, inside and out, with burnt umber acrylic glaze and wiped it down. Lovin' it!

Eggshell white paint and torn up music sheets came next. The music came from an old, beat up Mozart play book for school bands, just a quarter at the local thrift store! I used the page edges on the straight edges for a neater look. So cool! And I still have plenty of music sheets left.

And after the burnt umber glaze on all the surfaces. Ooh, I love this one too!!


And finally, flat black paint and some black and white scrapbook paper in a damask print. Unfortunately my seams did not match up the pattern as well as I liked, so I made some casual, fuzzy edged black stripes to "fool the eye." How Goth/Twilight/Vampire/Halloween does this look, I ask ya?

And across the top, where there was a little divot in the wood, I filled it and covered it up with a strip of the same paper, with joints perfectly matched this time. Then a little bit of sanding and a bit of black paint dry brushing, and this one is ready to go, too. I sealed all three with several layers of clear acrylic spray and I love the way all of them came out!!

And here they are all dressed and ready to go on day 1 of our Artwalk booth. I made a few color matched accessories for them and had a great time playing around with the displays. I put price tags on them in case someone really, really wanted them but in the end I kept them. They will be going in my refurbished craft studio soon, and I can't keep from smiling every time I look at them.

The whole thing was done with supplies I already had from previous projects, so I didn't have to spend any money, and that makes me feel happy and smart. Love that! Annnnd, I still have 3 more drawers. Gotta love that, too!

I'll be joining up on the blog parties on my sidebar, playing a bit of catch up this week. Hope to see you there!

33 comments:

  1. They're wonderful, Ann! Great displays. Shoot - great pieces of art in themselves!

    I had to laugh when I read what you said about Christopher Lowell going Hollywood. You know, he's a 'friend' on Twitter and is so approachable! I was shocked. But he's really fun to talk with! Just a 'regular' guy (well, not really ;)

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  2. I LOVE these! I have a six drawer dresser in my son's room that is horrible (drawers are always stuck) I haven't been able to decided what to do with it...now I know! I am going to use the base as a bookshelf and the drawers to hold all of my display items in my craft area.

    THANK U so much for sharing!!!

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  3. Lovely, lovely, lovely... and gives me some ideas...

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  4. What a great idea! When I used to set up- I was always looking for something that would do just what these do! I used a lot of old crates and wooden boxes, but these are thin and stand up a little higher.
    Wonderful post!
    Hugs- Tete

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  5. These look fantastic! I love how you used the mod podge and made each one so unique! Great Job!!

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  6. They turned out great. Each one so very different. You are one talented lady.

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  7. That is a great idea to use drawers as display shelves. I could use some of these for up coming boutiques. Thanks for sharing.

    ~Makalani
    www.MakazHome.com

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  8. interesting. we are moving into a smaller home soon and i'm trying to come up with unique ways to store everything. these would be pretty cool mounted to a wall for some floating bookshelves. hmmmm. . .
    great job!

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  9. I absolutely LOVE the blue one, I'd put that in my house anyday!

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  10. Very pretty! I love using old music in projects.

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  11. hey those are just great! i have an old drawer collecting the dust for me in my basement. i may just do something like this with it... huh... thanks for the inspiration.

    also thanks for visiting my blog yesterday was it? i love it when people drop by and leave some actual words. makes me H A P P Y!

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  12. those turned out really cute! i have an old drawer i've been saving-might have to do this! thanks! i visiting from bnotp.

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  13. Wow! They look great! I will have to keep my eye out for some old drawers to try this. Would look cute on a wall or tabletop!

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  14. These turned out great! What a pretty way to display your wares. La

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  15. Love the music one!...And the turquoise one! I could easily find a home for both:) Great idea!

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  16. Looks great! Thanks for linking up to Mad Skills Monday!

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  17. Wow! Oh, I love it!
    The drawers really came out nice!
    Thank you for sharing!
    Leticia

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  18. Very clever. Love the blue one.

    -Rene

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  19. These drawers are oh.so.cute!!! What a clever way to use them : )

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  20. I just picked some free drawers at my local ReStore for this exact project! thanks for posting! They look great. Found you through Life as Lori.

    www.rockiescrafts.blogspot.com

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  21. These turned out so great, thanks for visiting Savin' Some.

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  22. I love the music one! I'm your newest follower!

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  23. The inside of the drawers are amazing. I would have never thought of this. Love this! You have to link this to my Upcycled Awesome Linky party at http://tinyurl.com/Upcycled10

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  24. Brilliant. I love seeing things being given new life and purpose, and this is just completely inspired. AND looks fantastic ... love the display!
    Cass

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  25. Saw you at My Romantic Home. These are so cute!

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  26. Wow, love the bookshelves! I'm your newest follower.

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  27. These are great! I especially love the one lined with sheet music. Found you through Topsy Turvy's link party, by the way.

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  28. I've seen this idea somewhere before and still think it is super clever. My favorite is the blue one. Nicely done.

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  29. Hi! I found your site off of Today’s Creative Blog! I love your craft! You are so talented! I just signed up to be your 400th follower! Woo hoo! I hope you stop by my new blog. I just started it 2 months ago and would love new friends! Please come see me at http://www.modernfamilymagazine.com

    -Heather-

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  30. What fun projects! I never would have thought of it, but they look great! Thanks for linking up to another Topsy Turvy Tuesday!

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  31. Thank you for sharing your project with me, I love these drawers! They look adorable! I'm trying to pick a favorite but it's too hard, I love them all.
    ~Michelle

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