How To Line Drawers (In A Kid’s Dresser)

I’ve been trying to make up my mind on how to line the drawers of the recently re-finished dresser in my son’s room. The typical ways would include covering the drawers with  (a) patterned and colorful contact paper –  there are plenty of pretty designs to chose from nowadays (b)  fabric or (c) paper (such as wallpaper, wrapping paper, scrapbook paper etc.).

Because my deeper intention was for my son to develop good organization habits by using this dresser, I thought I’d get him involved.  To begin, we gathered:

We had so much fun making themed drawings, one for each drawer. Each drawing measures one fourth of an inch less than the drawer, both in height and in width.

and I was more than happy to help drawing when things got a little complicated or took a little too long. Depending on the child’s age he/she will get more or less involved and, of course, there are children that like drawing more than others, but it still is a fun afternoon project for everyone.

When we were done coloring, I used clear contact paper (gloss or mat – both work) to cover both sides of the drawing. I cut the excess contact paper leaving about one eighth inch around the drawing.

And as a finishing touch, I applied some patterned colorful washi tape around the perimeter of each drawing.

The washi tape keeps the front and back pieces of contact paper together and makes a nice frame for the drawing.

Each covered drawing was then placed in the respective drawer.

And everything started going back into place.

Since some drawers will be overfilled, the liner will not show as much, but this is a nice, clean and neat way to line the drawers of a kid’s dresser.

Secretly, I do hope that this project will somehow have an effect on keeping everything in place, but that remains to be seen!