Let's Craft Something!

So I had this aha moment while cleaning up from my closet shelves.  This little box seemed to be a strangely familiar size.  It took me a bit to realize it was the same size as my bathroom storage shelves.  Then, I had the wonderful idea of turning it into a nail polish rack.


I cut the box and made little shelves, fixed them with masking tape and covered the whole thing in layers of Mod Podge, hoping it would seal the tape in, and make the cardboard sturdier.  I covered it with a few layers of spray paint, and ta da!

No, not really.  The masking tape showed through pretty much no matter what.  I tried more layers of paint, sanding it down to help level it out, and nothing seemed to work.  So, I scrapped it and started over.  I didn't feel too bad tossing it in the recycling bin since it was something I had salvaged anyway.

Take Two:

I noticed these spare pieces of wainscoting that were collecting dust in our garage.  They were all left over from when we remodeled our kitchen, so I assumed them to be fair game.  The only thing stopping me was that we didn't have a power saw.  Thankfully, though, I have a loving boyfriend who does.

I drew out a rough sketch of what I wanted, measured them on the board, and Zach was even kind enough to cut them for me.  (I guess he was afraid of me losing a finger...)  He also suggested that I paint the pieces before I try to assemble it, so I took it home and painted.

Once my layers seemed thick enough to cover the dark mauve color we have in the kitchen, I decided that I was done painting and I could start assembling.  I had planned on using wood glue to hold it together, then going back over it with nails or staples.  The only thing stopping me now was that we didn't have any wood glue.


After a trip to the store where I got my under-bed shoe organizer and my makeshift yarn organizer, I got some wood glue.  I grabbed the clamps from the garage, a cardboard box out of the recycling, and set up shop in the kitchen because it was way too hot to try to do this in the garage.  (Yay Alabama summers.)

I glued the long sides first, and realized that I could match up the lines on the wainscoting lined up great.  Not to mention the fact that they are 2" apart, so I can use them for guides for my shelves.

When the glue dried, it was warped and both of the sides were tilted inward.

Take Three:

Whilst browsing YouTube for completely unrelated things, a DIY nail polish rack video showed up on the related videos.  "I'll see how they did it," I told myself as I clicked it.  It was a pretty good video, actually.  She used foam board, which I happened to have two large sheets of from when I was thinking about my World of Warcraft cosplay.

I kind of merged two tutorials.  I took BluSuga's video tutorial and mixed it with the PaperCastle tutorial for the shelves.  What I ended up doing was cutting slits in the sides and shelves so I could make them interlocking.  I thought this would make it a little more stable.  I took some panel board nails and reinforced them on the sides, then hot glued another side strip over it, just to make sure. I took it out and spray painted it white just to cover any imperfections.


Right now, I have the frame with it's rough foam board edges.  I wanted to wait to make sure everything was glued and that I liked it before I cut the back.  Once I get it done, I thought about doing a pink and white chevron design on it for just a pop of color since it will be against a white surface.  I'm also going to add some white dowels to the front just to make sure the polishes don't slip out.  I also plan on covering those rough edges with some ribbon that I picked up.



That's my WIP right now.  Well, one of them at least. Hopefully this will be done soon and I can share with you it's awesome glory!