The Lazy's Girls Guide for Trash to Treasure

MY STORY

     As my husband was cleaning out his work space, he started to bring an old bookcase up to put out into the trash.  I immediately claimed it as a necessary item to help me organize some craft supplies.  I thought this was a perfect piece to place my stash for my current assignments and projects and it was the perfect working height.

     But it was ugly.  And I don't like ugly things.

     On a recent trip to one of my fav stores, Anthropologie, I feel in love with these cotton tea towels with elephants in my new go to colors of grey and yellow.

    So, a trip to my dollar store and $15 later, I had everything I needed to fix this up.  And I just wanted something now....wasn't even patient enough for paint to dry.  Here is how I did it and what I used:

YOUR TURN

    This is how the piece started:

    Anytime I get to use power equipment is exciting.  Power sand the surfaces and wipe clean with a cloth to remove any residue.

    Then get started with some contact paper.   The same stuff that I used to decorate the inside of my school locker with.  I loved this faux marble look.  Measure and cut and cover the back and sides.

    I used some stainless steel paper for the front of the bottom shelf and for the top shelf.  I didn't really take time to anything else for the inside as the next steps will take care of that.

   And now for my beautiful Anthropologie towels.  Get sticky back Velcro and apply to the lip of the top bar and the front of the shelf.  Then adhere the opposite part of the Velcro to the top of the towels and voila!  Curtains. Repeat for each towel you are using.

  For the top I wanted to mix the stainless steel contact paper with the marble.  I like the different backgrounds for photographing projects.  Some items look better on the shiny surface, while others work much better on a busier background.  I also liked the metallic placement I found and it works great for keeping runaway beads in their place.

   With some items from The Container Store and Michaels, I was able to group my active projects and they are easy to get to and use.

   Contact paper is a great surface.  It wipes off with a wet cloth and the curtains are machine washable.  And the best part?  If I decide I need a purple and polka dotted piece next season, I just rip off the paper and do again!

   Have fun!