Faux Metal Finish Upcycled Shelf

Much better! Here is a closer look at the shelf before.

I have always loved little drawers and this shelf had good sized cubbies that were perfect for this sort of makeover! Similar shelves are always popping up in thrift stores, so why not make them fun and useful again?! Let me show you how I did it…

I wanted to make a middle shelf so I could have six drawers. I measured and cut a scrap piece of wood to size, then used my Gorilla Wood glue and nail gun to secure it (top left photo). In the middle photo above you can see I glued in the two side dividers. Then I added more glued to then end pieces and put them back on. I went around with the nail gun to hold everything in place until the glue dried.

I thought it needed a little beefing up on the top, so I grabbed a scrap board. I let it over lap just a little then cut it, glued, and nailed it on. You can see also that I am trying out some old knobs as feet. I also did this on another project recently, my DIY Corner Fruit Tower. It is a great way to repurpose outdated knobs. Plus they make cute little feet!

Deciding how to paint a project is always the hardest part for me. I love the look of metal and really went out on a limb to try the faux metal finish. I began with painting the drawer fronts white (top left photo) and I didn’t make it a great paint job either as you can see on my first drawer. Then I slapped on some green, blue, and gray on different drawer fronts.

I used a metallic silver craft paint and painted it on pretty randomly. Then I  finished off with some black accents.

To do the black, I just got a little on my cheap brush and then rubbed most of it off before painting it on my drawer front. Again I was going for the random, not perfect look.

For my shelf I did the same, but skipped the color. On the left you can see I brushed on some white, and on the right I did the metallic silver, and started with the black accents. In the photo on the right you can see that only the left side of the shelf has the black , can you see the difference?

I got these drawer pulls from Hobby Lobby and they are only $1.99, but with a coupon it was $1.20 something. I spray painted them and the “feet” knobs with some oil rubbed bronze.