Who needs drawers when you can have shelves

The best thing about D.I.Y is creating something new out of something old and neglected. Changing something from what it should be into something that it never knew it could. Having an open mind is essential in winning the battle of the recreate. Back in the day when I was residing in Vancouver I moved into a house that needed curtains - it just so happened that the wall coverings for the window display at work were coming down and were headed righteously for the trash. I swooped in and salvaged these light purple, semi sparkly yards of over processed synthetic fabric from a shallow dumpster grave. I brought these babies home, sewed some loops at the top for the rod to slide through and added wide stripes of black house paint to the already ridged material with a busted up paint roller. Let dry and C'est Magnifique! They were the right length, they were the correct width and they even kept the alley lurkers from peering in at me while I watched Extreme Makeover Home Edition and wept in amazement at how they continued to change the lives of so many with overindulgences and a mega phone. 


That was over ten years ago and my skills have become slightly more broadened but it was still a pretty stoked feeling to know that I contributed to my house and didn't have to sacrifice my non-existent  pennies to do so. 


Since we're still working towards putting the finishing touches on our son's new room, there has been a lot of new additions being crafted. I really like this shelf that we did out of old dresser drawers. It's fun and since we already have a shelf type box for books, it didn't matter that the depth of the drawers weren't totally ideal for novels and the like. 


I managed to come across 4 old drawers that were being sold for $6 off the internet - they were perfect. I had an old dresser in the garage that's shape I wasn't totally sold on but kept as a "just in case" item. I am so glad I fought the husband's pleads to discard off for those extra few weeks because two of it's drawers were just what I needed. All together I had six drawers - 4 different styles and shapes. I organized them on the ground to find the shape that I was keen on and popped off the handles that weren't necessary. 

I gave all the drawers a light sand but kept the outsides natural/multiple colours to make it obvious of what they were in their past life. We made some small shims to help the drawers fit snug up against each other and to get a nice tight hold when we screwed them together. By screwing them together it made the drawers into one nice easy to handle shelf. Add in as many or as little screws as you want, totally your call. I gave the insides some white and got Hayden to paint on some designs of relevance to my child's currant fascinations. 

Because the back (old bottom) of the drawers were sunken in a bit, when attached to the wall there would have been a gap, making the shelf not fully flat and secure. We cut some small squares of wood and using wood glue adhered them to six spots around the back where we wanted to place the screws through to the wall. This made the whole unit nice and flat and virtually unmoveable. 

I added some of my son's wears strategically amongst the new shelves hoping that he has fallen out of love with each piece that fits to my taste. I find I try to hide my sadness every time he throws things on the floor or rearranges to his unseasoned liking but he's a kid and he's a rad kid who's just beginning his own lessons in the art of design and destruction.   

Back from my bloggers grave

My extended hiatus has come to a close. Mostly due to popular demand and slightly elevated energy levels, I have returned to reclaim my post as some what of a do it yourself connoisseur.  Though the keyboard has been out of the loop for quite some time - the ideas and creations have been feverishly surging through my family's limbs at an uncontrollable pace. With the arrival of our sequel child due in June, we have been overwhelmed with rad ideas and revamps - transforming an old room to a new room and a spare room to a toddlers room - the possibilities have been unbelievably endless. 


On the same level as my excitement for having a new kid is my elation for having an excuse to buy second hand furniture that I can dust off and transform into new greatness. My husband's distaste for garage clutter and joy for the dismantling of space over-stayers always hinders my reasoning for buying without a purpose. I now have the upper hand and even a small portion of the surfboard, weight bench, work station ridden garage at my leisure. 


A few weeks ago we ventured out to Trash Palace in Tawa. It's generally a dumping ground for the unsalvageable but if you dig deep enough and make a few passes around the joint, you might stumble upon a cubic zirconia amongst the mounds of utter crap. And low and behold - I did. A mouldy set of broken drawers with legs, height and handles I adored. The man at the counter was asking way too much but with a ginger husband at the bartering helm (and the additional purchase of a set of training wheels) we snagged up our toxic mess for just over $10.

    


A week later I donned my pregnant lady's mask of safety and started the dressers journey for new life. 

Everything got a good sand and the outer shell got a few new coats of varnish. Gave the drawers a couple coats of the green paint that I picked up in test pot size for $5 at the local hardware store. Seriously people...if you can buy test pots - do it! Best deal ever. 

After the green was fully dried I masked over the handles of the drawers I wanted to have the lace print on and masked around the handles of the ones I didn't. I painted the handles of the non-patterned drawers purple and placed the lace (grabbed from the thrift store for $5) across the left overs and cut out where the handles sat so the lace would lay flat. I gave them a light spray paint and pulled the lace off right away but very very carefully. 

I unmasked everything and that's it! Super stoked on how it turned out. The new little lady's room is going to look really rad with this in it.