IKEA DRAWER MAKEOVER

All four drawer units (one under the printer in the alcove to the left of the fire; two on the right, one atop of the other). Freyja's unit is just to the left of the fireplace. My old (spare) computer monitor is on the drawers on the right.

My friend Freyja is decluttering, and offered me this little Ikea drawer storage unit.

Closeup of Freyja's unit (right) which fits in beautifully to the right of the fire. On the left is the chimney alcove, all shelved out, with my wireless printer and another Ikea unit of 3 drawers underneath, holding printer paper etc.

As you can imagine, I grabbed with both hands! Love love love it.So I thought you'd like full details of how I've made this over (it now matches my other ones, made over in exactly the same way).

First I laid a drawer face down on scrap paper and drew round the shape. I cut approximately 1cm inside the pencil lines, folded in half vertically to find the center (easier than measuring) and cut out the curve with the paper folded so it would be even on both sides.

I then cut out my vintage adverts (from a very old book that was literally falling to pieces). You'll see I cut the ads exactly in half so they'd match up when viewed.

Freyja's unit, as it arrived. Very heavy, solid as a rock! I'm really happy with this unit.

A little scruffy, but nothing a light sanding and a bit of paint won't cure!

I'm painting the insides and will line with scrapbooking papers.

I'm using ordinary household emulsion - I have about half a tin leftover from when we painted the living room. This is after just one coat - I'm doing two coats, inside and out, for a nice finish.

All the drawer fronts are now covered. I used ordinary PVA (white glue) and I'm sure wallpaper paste would have done just as well. You'll notice a little bubbling because I didn't wait for them to dry before I took the photo.

View from the left. I ran out of the advert paper I used for the drawer fronts and the other 3 sets of drawers, so used vintage sheet music on this side. The colour of the paper is exactly the same - how lucky was that?

View from the right. I used the frontispiece from the vintage sheet music at the top, but the bottom half is a page of ads from a theatrical magazine of the 30s. I've used the originals, but have scanned them all and put these on my Freebies site if anyone wants to use them.

View from the top.

So there you are! All done. The aim was to have storage that blends in with the furniture and is not too obtrusive (I have to do all my crafting in the living room) and I think this has fulfilled the brief beautifully, if I do say so.

This only took me an afternoon, and was a couple of hours very well spent. Whew!