Particle board furniture has a bad rap. It's cheap, it's disposable, it looks like it belongs in a college dorm. However, when you're on a budget or just don't need the best quality bookshelf/desk/bedside table/etc, particle board can be your best friend.
I just moved into a new apartment, and for the first time in my life I have been given free reign to decorate and furnish to my heart's content. Because I've never had this sort of flexibility before, I didn't have much furniture for non-bedroom areas. Trying to furnish a whole apartment is expensive, even on particle board budgets. Trying to furnish a whole apartment and not make it look like you raided the nearby community school? Next to impossible.
Luckily for me, I've got some crafty skills at my disposal, and I decided to put them to good use.
To add some storage space to my little home, I bought a cute little particle board shelving unit. The Furinno shelf was right in my budget, $35 plus free shipping. Not too ugly, but also not very exciting.
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| Photo courtesy of Amazon.com |
I swung by a local craft store after work a few days ago and picked up a couple yards of a gorgeous vintage oilcloth (think picnic tablecloths). It matched the current color scheme of the living room, and it can be wiped down with a sponge for easy maintenance.
I cut a piece of the oilcloth slightly larger than the shelf tier, making sure that there was enough room on all sides to wrap to the underside of the shelf (roughly 1" on this particular unit). At this point I also traced the holes where the PVC rods would connect.
In each of those circles that I traced, I used an exacto knife to cut out the middle. Cut circles like you were cutting a pizza, cut squares/rectangles along the diagonals. Don't cut too close to the line, in case the fabric stretches a bit too far. You don't want those cuts to be visible.
You might ask "But why not just cut the circle out completely?" If you cut the circle out along the line, you have to be 100% sure that the circle is EXACTLY lined up with the hole in the particle board, there is no leeway. Also, oil cloth stretches out of shape pretty easily, and if any of those edges are visible once the shelf is constructed, you can guarantee those edges are going to become more and more noticeable as time goes on. By leaving the fabric mostly intact, you have a bit more flexibility if the circle doesn't line up. Also, those triangular wedges will become an extra source of stability once they get secured into the hole.
Now it's time to start stapling! Pick one of the longest sides to start, and securely tack the seam allowance along the edge of the board. Don't be afraid of using too many staples! I used 9 staples on each of the longer sides (across the 23.5" length). Once the first side is finished, go to the opposite side, pull the seam allowance until the fabric is taut, and staple in place. I found it easiest to start with a staple in the middle, then a staple in each corner, and then to finish by filling in the gaps on either side of center. This way I could make sure the key points were taut enough.
The corners were a little tricky. This particular shelf has rounded edges, so it took a bit of fussing around to get the oilcloth to look smooth enough for my standards. Just keep tucking and pleating the corner until it looks acceptable, then staple all the layers in place.
And your shelf is done! If there are any holes or grooves on the visible side of the board, make sure to cut them out at this point. If you look closely, you can see two little holes for dowels in the top and bottom centers of this board.
News team, assemble! Congrats, you've made a boring, cheap-looking piece of furniture stylish and unique! The possibilities are limitless, and now you can make your furniture fit into whatever color scheme you want.
If you can't find oilcloth, cotton woven fabrics can also work, but you have to be careful about the edges fraying. Coating the fabric with a lacquer prior to assembly can help, as it will stiffen the fibers so they won't fray or shred. I really do recommend seeking out oilcloth though, because it makes life so much easier!
