Weekend Project: A Quick Drawer Makeover
Sometimes you see something you want to use in your home before you know how and where you will use it, and that was the story for me with this lovely contact paper.
Source: Amazon.com
It popped up while browsing, and I am a sucker for floral toile patterns, so this yellow rendition just had to find a place at the Farmhouse. It wasn't until reading through the customer reviews when I saw an example of the paper used as an accent on the side of a dresser drawer that I added two rolls to my cart. The idea was perfect - it was an unexpected detail that most will never see, but that I see every day. It's a touch of surprise and delight, and completely improved our old, repainted Ikea dresser in the Master Loft.
We started by measuring the length of paper we would need to cover one side of the drawer, plus some overhang onto the inside and back of the drawer. The contact paper had grid marks on the back, which made cutting in straight lines simple.
Then we peeled up the backing slowly, starting at one corner and moving upward and outward. I used my plastic scissor covers to press the contact paper against the wood, being careful to avoid or smooth out any bubbles. Once the paper was applied to the outside of the drawer, we pulled it tightly around and smoothed it down against the top lip and inner side of the drawer.
After some trial and error, we learned that it was best to keep a long overhang of paper on the inside to help anchor it down firmly and look nice on the inside of the drawer. On the end of the paper that was longer than the drawer, we cut a notch on top so we could fold it down against the inside corner, and wrapped the remaining overhanging paper around to the back of the drawer.
Overall, the project took about an hour to complete, and we used just one roll of contact paper to cover both sides of four large and two small drawers. The dogs did their best to help, too! (Well, sort of...)
Will you take on this project? There are so many beautiful contact paper options on Amazon that you should be able to find one you love!
