Home » Home & Style » Recycling Furniture » Wrap It In Fabric

Wrap It In Fabric

© Karon Goodman

Paint will cover a multitude of uglies in a number of ways, but fabric can also revitalize a piece of furniture with its own unique look. To view one chest of drawers recycled with paint and fabric, click here: http://www.mindspring.com/~billgoodman/f... .

This particular chest of drawers was incredible simple to recycle. Structurally, it was still in good shape -- it was just in desperate need of a makeover.

The first step was to remove all the hardware. I cleaned and primed them and then painted them with acrylics in a shade of blue-gray that I mixed myself. If your piece had broken drawer pulls or some that you didn't like, you could always purchase new ones. You'll notice that one of the drawer pulls was missing from the top drawer, but I didn't want to buy new ones. So I eliminated that problem by drilling new holes in the drawer so that only two pulls were needed. There's always a solution!

I cleaned and primed the chest, too, and then painted it with white latex paint. A variety of finishes will work here, including flat, satin or even semi-gloss, whatever you have or prefer. Protect your paint with a sealer.

The paint took care of the top and sides of the chest, but I wanted something different for the drawers. I chose some blue and white ticking because of its strength and durability. I didn't purchase it new, though -- it was recycled from a stained piece of clothing.

You'll notice that the fabric is pleated across the drawers, not flat. I did that for several reasons. First of all, the top drawer has detail carving which would make stretching the fabric tight and smooth a more difficult job. Secondly, if I didn't have a wide enough strip of fabric to cover an entire drawer, I could start a new piece of fabric within a pleat and it would never show. Finally, I thought that the pleated look was more interesting.

I used a staple gun to attach the fabric to the drawers, just wrapping it around the edges of the drawers so the staples wouldn't show. Staple the fabric in place, starting at one end, going completely up one side of the drawer with the staples only a couple of inches apart. Then staple the top and bottom of each pleat as you go across. If you make a mistake, simply remove the staple and start again. **Tip: pay attention and fold all of your pleats in the same direction.**

When you're satisfied with the fabric on the drawers, make tiny holes so that you can

The copyright of the article Wrap It In Fabric in Recycling Furniture is owned by . Permission to republish Wrap It In Fabric in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.