Mini drawers makeover

I've had these little drawers for a long time - I remember using them for some of my craft items when I lived with my parents. They are the very basic sort of drawers that you can find in any DIY store - and they looked very boring and functional. Since I was decorating my craft room, I decided that these drawers needed a bit of a makeover.

I started by putting all the drawers aside and using white spray paint on the rest of the structure. These were three drawer units joined together, some of which used to be black and some red, and I'd previously used silver spray paint on them. I didn't bother making sure that the insides of the cubbyholes were completely covered, I just used enough paint that the visible part was covered with white.

To decorate the clear plastic drawers themselves, I used patterned paper. First I cut a template from card that would fit inside the front of a drawer (this took a little trial and error). Then I had the fun of choosing the papers. I decided to start with red/pink on the left and work in a rainbow towards purple/violet at the right. For each colour from red to purple I chose 8 different patterned papers, used the template to cut pieces of the right size, and placed these down the fronts of the drawers.

Along the top of the drawers I placed a little shelf from Ikea. It is designed for displaying pictures, but it's a great size for holding my paintbrushes and other tools, and displaying some vintage reels of thread and sewing patterns.