Flea Market Flip – Recycled Drawer Shelves
- By Joan
- October 19, 2017
- 3 Comments
Welcome back, I have another flea market find that I’m giving an easy upcycle.
In August I had the pleasure of shopping the Route 11 Yard Crawl. Back in 2016, at the same yard sale, I got enough junk to make at least a dozen different projects…the latest being the Wine Barrel Lazy Susan.
Sadly, this year, only enough junk for three. OK, maybe 4 projects since I got 5 of these drawers and I’m only using three for this project.
My sister spied these drawers first and she was hot in negotiations by the time I arrived. Starting price $5. After some tough bargaining, a little bundling (I also bought the $5 stool for my Maryland table from the same dealer) a little flattery…I told the dealer he had nice junk…we settled on $3 each.
Before you get the wrong idea, all the drawers were filled with junk. Little bits and pieces from somebody’s work shop. I thought I liked his junk, but once I started to go thru it…not so much. So we dumped the contents and bought just the drawers.
I bought 5 of the drawers, my sister got 3 (I think) and we left a few more. I have no idea why we just didn’t buy them all.
I attacked the drawer fronts with Goo Gone, followed by Paint Thinner but it wasn’t until I pulled out the sander was I able to get off some of the toughest crud.
I also took the sander to the outsides of the drawers to get rid of old paint, dirt or whatever else happened to be hanging on.
One of the drawers already had a divider, and I cut two more dividers out of scrap wood to match. Nailed from the outside.
After a scrubbing, the insides got a nice clean coat of cream chalk paint.
I rubbed on a coat of Restor-A-Finish in Cherry 
I modpodged a map to the insides of the drawers.
Yes, I still have a bunch of these “antiques” though I haven’t used one in quite a while. Remember on trips, unfolding the map to figure out where you were and better yet, trying to refold the map?
I also considered, old sheet music, wallpaper and scrap paper but I wasn’t using my maps for anything, so map it was.
Attach hangers and they’re ready for a favorite collectible.
A map background makes a perfect backdrop for travel souvenirs.
If you have some extra drawers hanging around maybe it’s time for an easy upcycle.
Have a great Fall weekend.
Shared at Wow us Wednesday,
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Love your ideas and imagination. I like to use drawers and baskets like this to store small rolls of fabric (fq’s) and change them up to add color to the room.
They would look great in a craft room…great idea.
Love the little handles, and always love these kinds of workroom drawers-with or without the nails, screws,bolts and washers;) $3 is a stinkin’ good price, and yes…you should have bought all of them at that price; shoulda, woulda, coulda…I just bought 2 from a picker for $15 each:0 and they are still dirty! Love how you put the maps as a backdrop, really brightens up the inside.