Brush Up On Your Dewey Decimals: A 'DIY' Faux Card Catalog Reveal

by Shane Mitchell / LearningInTheJourney™

$50.00

8 Hours

Medium

After stumbling upon a FREE Craigslist chest of drawers I knew it would be the perfect piece to reclaim, restore and repurpose into a faux card catalog for my girlfriend, who has a passion for education, and an 'old soul' at heart.

upcycled drawer chest to diy faux card catalog reveal, painted furniture, repurposing upcycling

Pictured is the free Craigslist chest of drawers, a sure beauty in it's natural state.

However, I was in repurposing mode, so I set out for my favorite local home improvement store (LOWE's ...Never Stop Improving) in search of the necessary material.

For this particular project I opted for the pre-sanded (5.0) mm Hardwood Plywood Utility Panel.

After determining the desired length and width (measuring twice and cutting a thousand times...trial and error), I sliced and diced (40) pieces for the 'drawers'.

I decided to go with leftover paint from years gone by, which happened to be the perfect green for this project...and it was free. I taped off and painted away.

As the paint was drying on the chest itself, I took out the drawers and began the task of aligning the 'drawer faces'. Using ripped down pieces of the (5.0) mm board (pictured in the forefront of the above picture) I placed them in between each 'drawer face' to create a uniform line, both vertically and horizontally. Once aligned I glued the 'drawer faces' in place using wood glue. After drying was completed I carefully taped off between the 'drawer faces' and painted each to match the sides of the chest.

After drying over night, and creating a hardware template (see photo of template, a must do to assure precise alignment of each pull) I was ready to install the hardware. For this project I chose to go with a (2.5") antique copper cabinet label holder with finger pull from D. Lawless Hardware (www.dlawlesshardware.com) and matching (5) x (5/8") oval head screws.

Pictured are the pre-painted 'drawer faces'.

Closing in on the completion of this project I decided to slightly distress the painted areas in order to give the piece that vintage look. I also personalized it with an 'image transfer' technique.

Using the 'stencil font' I printed it in mirror image. Flipping the paper over face down onto the chest itself, I then went over the back of the paper with pencil, and the image transferred to the chest as shown in the previous picture.

The completed project, a faux card catalog with the functionality of full drawers, staged with 'educational pieces' picked up at various yard sales and thrift stores along the way.

Thank you for following along, as we are 'Learning In The Journey™ Reclaimed. Restored. Repurposed.' one day at a time.

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7 of 211 comments

Hei764876 on Apr 12, 2015
What a splendid transformation.

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- Shane Mitchell / LearningInTheJourney™ on Apr 25, 2015
  @Heidibee, thank you much! I appreciate the feedback.
  
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Shirley Kalinosky on Apr 13, 2015
Are the drawer pulls functional? Or do you just use your fingers to open the drawers on the sides?

1 Reply
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- D Lawless Hardware on Apr 22, 2015
  @Shirley Kalinosky The drawer pulls are functional however this particular project is a faux card catalog. So, the pulls are just for decoration.
  
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- Shane Mitchell / LearningInTheJourney™ on Apr 25, 2015
  Miss @Shirley Kalinosky, thank you for the inquiry. As @D Lawless Hardware, stated the drawer pulls are functional. I used this particular piece to give that vintage card catalog look. The pulls are screwed in through the 'drawer face' and into the actual dresser drawer as well. They are solidly intact so one can use the pulls to open the drawer. The drawer can also be opened with your fingers by the hidden feature that was notched out by the manufacturer at the bottom of each drawer. That feature is what allows the drawer that flush look, and was perfect for this project. Again thank you much for your interest. Please be sure to check out these pulls and this project featured at http://www.dlawlesshardware.com/antique-copper-finger-label-holder.html. Happy DIY'ing! :)
  
  1
- D Lawless Hardware on May 02, 2015
  @Learning In The Journey™ Thanks man! Good working with you!
  
  1
- Shane Mitchell / LearningInTheJourney™ on May 27, 2015
  You got it! My pleasure, looking forward to growing and opening up new doors with @D Lawless Hardware!
  
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