Nothing makes a house a home more than framed photos of loved ones, whether humans or fur babies. This DIY project transforms a wooden drawer into a novel, stylish picture frame that will perk up a wall photo grouping or add interest to a bookshelf.
Practically any small drawer will do for this project, which resembles a shadow box. Once you paint the drawer, center the photo inside the bottom panel, which will be highlighted in the drawer’s artful reiteration. Choose paint hues to complement your color scheme, and match or contrast the decorative corner plates to the drawer's interior or exterior — it's all up to you.
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Materials
- Small wooden drawer, 19-by-12 inches
- Sanding sponge
- Soft cloth
- Paper towel or two
- 2 jars chalk paint in different colors
- Fine art paintbrush
- Pair of thin rubber gloves
- Roll of blue painter’s tape
- Photo printed on a sheet of paper or special photo paper sized to fit inside the drawer, with a border of about 1-2 inches
- Scissors
- Mod Podge
- Medium paintbrush for painting walls
- Tite Bond III Ultimate waterproof wood glue
- Wooden craft stick
- 4 decorative wooden molding corner plates
- Piece of tissue
- Hot-glue gun
- Glue sticks
- Decorative drawer pull
- Command strips (not shown)
- Small wooden drawer, 19-by-12 inches
- Sanding sponge
- Soft cloth
- Paper towel or two
- 2 jars chalk paint in different colors
- Fine art paintbrush
- Pair of thin rubber gloves
- Roll of blue painter’s tape
- Photo printed on a sheet of paper or special photo paper sized to fit inside the drawer, with a border of about 1-2 inches
- Scissors
- Mod Podge
- Medium paintbrush for painting walls
- Tite Bond III Ultimate waterproof wood glue
- Wooden craft stick
- 4 decorative wooden molding corner plates
- Piece of tissue
- Hot-glue gun
- Glue sticks
- Decorative drawer pull
- Command strips (not shown)
DIY Everywhere
Instructions
1. Place the drawer on your work surface right-side up.
1. Place the drawer on your work surface right-side up.
2. Lightly sand the interior, exterior and upper edge of the drawer. You don’t have to sand the bottom. Wipe away sanding dust with the cloth.
3. Place a paper towel under the drawer to protect the work surface.
4. Put a rubber glove on the hand you’ll use to move the drawer as you paint it.
5. Paint the drawer’s upper edges and side, front and back panels. Go over any areas that need more paint. Allow the paint to dry.
6. Tear off four pieces of painter’s tape long enough to cover the top edges of the drawer on all four sides, and apply.
7. Remove the rubber glove.
8. Apply the other chalk paint to the interior of the drawer, both the bottom and the sides. Remove the painter’s tape, and set aside to dry.
9. Cut out the photo carefully, and brush Mod Podge on the back with the medium paintbrush.
10. Center the photo on the interior of the freshly painted drawer bottom, and press down firmly so it affixes well.
11. Apply a line of wood glue about 1 ½ inches long on the back horizontally along the upper drawer edge, next to the top right corner.
12. Spread out the glue on that back edge with the wooden craft stick. Apply some glue to the other side of the corner with the stick.
13. Affix one of the wooden corner molding pieces to the drawer edge with the glue.
14. Repeat steps 11-13, placing decorative corner molding on the remaining three corners of the drawer’s upper edges.
15. Wipe away any excess wood glue with a tissue.
16. Apply a few drops of hot glue to the back of the decorative drawer pull.
17. Affix the pull to the bottom center of the top drawer edge as you look down on the frame.
18. Attach the frame to the wall with Command strips, pressing the frame against the wall firmly but gently and making sure the strip locations are properly placed.
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