St. Patrick's Day and A Project

Today's post will not be St. Patrick's Day themed. There will be no shamrocks, no leprechauns, and no green cocktails. I know, you would think that I, of all people, would be sharing a drink recipe in honor of this day. But you would be mistaken. I'm not a fan of St. Patrick's Day. I don't want you to mistakenly think that it has anything to do with Ireland, Irish people, shamrocks, leprechauns, St. Patrick (or anyone named Patrick, for that matter) or green beer. I actually like all of those things. If I gave you fifty guesses, you would probably never guess why I don't like St. Patrick's Day. If you really want to know, though, I'll tell you.........tomorrow! However, in the meantime, if you would like to take a guess, please post it in my comments (unless you are Purple Hoodie Chick, you can't guess because you know the answer, that would be cheating!).

Today's post is a project I would like to share with you. It's simple, fast, and inexpensive. With spring being only a few days away, we are fast approaching my favorite season. I like everything about spring, but the season I'm referring to is Flea Market Season!!!! I love a good flea market find, and this project relates to that. What I'm going to show you is an easy way to line drawers.

I'm not trying to insult your intelligence, I'm sure you can figure out how to cut contact paper and stick it to the bottom of a drawer. However, I think this is a better way because it's easier to change and it looks more professional. Of course, you don't have to line drawers at all, but I think it's nicer to have your clothes sitting on a lined surface than bare wood. It will also cover any stains that might be in the drawer that could tranfer to your clothing. The piece of furniture I'll be demonstrating on is not a flea market find, it's a vintage family piece. I inherited it from my grandma. It's in my daughters room and she loves it. I do too!

This is it.

We'll line a small drawer.

Here are the supplies you'll need: the drawer to be lined, newspaper, tape, pencil, scissors or razor knife, spray adhesive, sturdy cardboard (not pictured) and wallpaper (not pictured). I used leftover wallpaper from my daughter's room so it would match.

We're going to start by making a newspaper pattern of the bottom of the drawer. You could skip this step and measure the drawer bottom, but I think this way is actually easier and more accurate.

Cut or tear pieces of newspaper into pieces smaller than the drawer, being sure to keep one corner intact. Fit that corner into the corner of your drawer like this.

Don't worry about the rest of the drawer yet.

Continue adding pieces of newspaper and fitting corners until the bottom of the drawer is covered. Tape all of your pieces together before removing them. This is now your pattern.

Lay your pattern on a piece of sturdy cardboard and trace it. Cut out your piece using scissors or a razor knife. Cut inside the lines you traced by about 1/8 of an inch to leave room for the wallpaper. (I used brown cardboard when I actually did this project, but for the demo all I had was white. It makes it harder to see the edges of the patern in the pic. Sorry!)

I don't have any pictures of the next part of the process, but I think you can figure it out. Place your cut cardboard piece on the back side of the wallpaper. Cut the wallpaper several inches larger than your cardboard on all sides.

In a well ventilated area on a protective surface, coat the back side of your wallpaper and one side of your cardboard with spray adhesive (or follow instructions on can for permanent mounting). Let them sit for several minutes or until barely tacky (check the can for exact time) and then place the tacky side of your cardboard to the center of the tacky side of your wallpaper. Cut off corners of wallpaper and wrap remaining edges around cardboard. Like this:

Press the edges of the wallpaper onto the cardboard firmly. You may need an additional spray of adhesive to get them to stick tightly. Smooth out the front side and insert into the drawer. When you're done it should look like this:

Return drawer to chest and you are done! You can also use this technique to line the back "wall" of glass door cabinets and change the look when you want to. Have fun!