Up-Cycled Drawers to Shelves. YES I Did.

3 Materials
$15
1 Hour
Easy
I like to think outside of the box! I picked these Bathroom Cabinet drawers out of a 1930's house ready to be demolished. There was something sweet about them...I had an idea...
These 1930's bathroom cabinet drawers called me as I walked through a 1930's house about to be demolished. I liked the lightweight wood they were made from and the sweet little design on them. I scrubbed the cabinets with a bleach/water combo and a wire brush just because I had no idea how long or what creatures had been in the vacant house.
I used a primer on all of the drawers just to be sure any "old" smells etc stayed in forever! I then spray painted the drawers in a Aqua Blue.
At the time I had an amazing printer that would print on tissue paper and that is what I did with the Paris Architecture pictures that I chose for the drawers. I printed them out on tissue paper and used Mod Podge to glue them to the drawers. The new printers do not print on tissue paper very well. You could just print the picture right on plain old printer paper, then glue it on.
I added a bi of black dry brush to the edges of the drawer. I also added a wire to the back of the drawers so I could hang them on any wall.
The wire on the back was heavy enough to hold weight so I could add trinkets to the drawer like a shelf.
I left the original hardware on the drawers as well because the hardware always tells you the era of the piece. SO CUTE!!!
Back in the day I always took my re-created pieces out to back roads to take their new pictures because I loved the story of someone leaving/throwing the pieces out to begin with and me finding them and making them sought after again!
Wouldn't they look awesome on a gallery wall?! Instant conversation starters!
THANK YOU for tuning in!
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Ava Blake Creations
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  • Theresa Theresa on Mar 14, 2018

    You did such a great job and so creative!! I noticed the small picture frame, I have several just like it that I recently painted to try to reuse some how. Did you glue the large key to it? I'd like to try something like that too, please let me know. Thanks!!!

  • Terry Lynn Terry Lynn on Mar 14, 2018

    Hi, I have a bunch of shelves that I want to do something similar with. I would like to know how you get the drawers to lay flat against the wall. The drawers I have the face overhangs the shelf boards. Do you trim that overhang on the bottom of the shelves so it will lay flat against the wall?

    Thank you

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  • Carolinagirl Carolinagirl on Aug 30, 2019

    I found you on Hometalk! Your project is so inspiring and could be used on trays and shadow boxes and more. Thanks for sharing this great idea.

  • Viviane Viviane on May 04, 2021

    Well done. It looks antique and it brings back memories of trips. Great way to recycle.

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