Soda Can, Vintage Number Labels

 

DIY Vintage Metal Numbers  for cubby organizer shelves

Sometimes when you think you’re finished a project, you find you’re missing just one thing.

Reclaimed Pallet Wood Cubby Organizer Wall Shelves

If you missed my post from Monday this week,   I shared with you how to make this great organizer shelf using pallet wood, nails and glue.

Cubby Organizer - Natural  Pottery Barn - Google Chrome 3222016 101126 AM

I had no sooner completed my shelf, when I found this shelf over at Pottery Barn for the low low price of $166.  If you don’t include glue and nails, mine was FREE. I love free!

What Pottery Barn’s shelf had, that mine didn’t, was numbers.  Well, now I had to have numbers too.

DIY Vintage Metal Numbers  for cubby organizer shelves

My plan was to print out numbers on clear address labels and affix them to a soda can.

That was the plan. Me trying to line up my numbers and ovals so that they fit on my 30 to a sheet, address labels was not going quite as planned.

Teenage son finally stepped in claiming that my efforts were rather painful to watch. What would have taken me a couple of hours, took him 5 minutes. Since he kicked me off my computer, there was nothing better for me to do, than to take a picture of him hard at work.

So, if you need any computer work done, find a teenager.  Thanks Nathan.

Number labels

This is what he ended up with.  The font is Mom’s Typewriter and nicely spaced columns and numbers that printed out perfectly on my Avery clear address labels.

DIY Vintage Metal Numbers  for cubby organizer shelves

I washed out a soda can. It was extremely easy to cut off the top and bottom of the can with simple household scissors.

DIY Vintage Metal Numbers  for cubby organizer shelves

All those numbers and I only needed one can.  While the labels are clear,  they are more of an opaque kind of clear, they don’t quite let the shininess of the can shine through.

DIY Vintage Metal Numbers  for cubby organizer shelves

Cut out each of the numbers leaving a bit of a gap around the outside of the oval.

DIY Vintage Metal Numbers  for cubby organizer shelves

By scratching off some of the labels opaque finish with a screwdriver, I was able to see a bit of the shiny metal shining through.

DIY Vintage Metal Numbers  for cubby organizer shelves

Finished my “vintage” numbers with a bit of tinted wax dabbed on with a Q-tip.  The wax is the same wax I use with chalk paint.  

If you get too much wax on, it’s fairly easy to scratch back off.

Vintage Metal Numbers from a soda can DIY

The numbers were attached to the cubby shelves with a couple of tacks.

DIY Vintage Metal Numbers  for cubby organizer shelves

DIY Vintage Metal Numbers  for cubby organizer shelves

DIY Cubby Organizer Shelves with soda can number labels

The shelves were all ready for decorating and oh, the possibilities.  How about a bottle collection?

DIY Cubby Organizer Shelves with soda can number labels

 

DIY Cubby Organizer Shelves with soda can number labels

Or sports memorabilia?

Vintage Metal Numbers from a soda can DIY

DIY Vintage Metal Numbers  for cubby organizer shelves

I’m always amazed when a plan actually works and even up close, they really do look old. 

OK, now I think I’m really done, but I do have 9 more pages of address labels.  Hmmm, what else can I put a vintage label on?

Update: Since this post, I couldn’t let my sheets of address labels go to waste so I tried the same technique with words. You can get another free download here by just checking out my IKEA cabinet project.

IKEA Moppe cabinet and Soda Can Labels

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