Now that the structure of my shelves was complete, I went to work on the color scheme. I decided to use some of the wicker from the laundry basket I found as a backing for the smaller drawer and a strip of texture in the larger drawer.

Since the drawers were made from MDF or fiberboard and not a hardwood, I was not able to use eco-friendly milk paint for this project. Instead, I used some salvaged latex paint that I got for free at the ReStore in St. Louis. Looking at the colors I had, I worked out a design on paper.

I wanted to use a light green for the edges of the shelf and a blue for the back of the larger drawer. I also decided to paint a stripe of blue around the top of each drawer to tie the light blue into the entire piece.

Before I got to painting, I prepped the wood by lightly sanding the surfaces and then removing all the dust with a scrap of fabric.

Since I was painting over the last finish, I needed to prep the surface with a white primer. This coat doesn’t have to be super even, since it just acts as a base so our color will stick!

I painted the areas I wanted green first with a medium sized brush, leaving the primer showing in the areas I wanted to paint blue. I painted two coats to get a nice even color. After the paint was dry I used a small detail brush to paint the blue stripe around the top of the shelves and a medium brush to paint the back of the large drawer blue.

To attach the wicker into the back of the drawers, I squirted some craft glue on the surface and used an old gift card to spread the glue evenly on the back. Then, I placed the wicker in and piled books on top of it to press the wicker onto the surface as the glue dried.

I placed the strip of wicker in the large drawer directly under the spot where I wanted the small drawer to be stacked. This created a continuous stripe of white wicker through the whole shelving unit. I also cut a small piece of wicker to place at the top of the small drawer and cover the bottom of the flower pot that came through the top of the shelf. In the end, this little shelving unit would make a great place to display some treasured objects or store books. Turning drawers into storage is a great project that you can continue to build upon as you discover more great finds in an alley near you!