As promised, here is my first DIY project as a jolly Londoner! 

Setting up in a new place can be pricey, especially if you’re settling in a new country and leaving most of your worldly possessions behind. When we started looking for places, one of our prerequisites was to find something furnished. While we did find what we were looking for, the furniture was older and in rough shape. It’s one thing to completely refinish a piece if you know that you will cherish it forever, but if the furniture isn’t yours and you’re left to live with it for an undetermined period of time, then you’ve got a conundrum on your hands.

Which is why you should take my advice, and give yourself a present - as in literally gift-wrap your furniture! Think about it; there are a variety of beautiful gift wraps out there for really cheap, the paper can be ripped off once you move out, and it requires less than an hour of down and dirty hands-on work. If a piece of furniture is working fine but is sore on the eyes, then this solution is perfect.

Here is the before and after photos of the dresser that came with our room. It worked fine, but it had seen better days. 

I stumbled across Paperchase one day, and it was like walking into a heaven constructed just for me. Storage, gift wrap, craft supplies, walls of journals - it was eye-opening. Seeing their beautiful gift wrap is what gave me this idea.

YOUR ESSENTIAL TOOLS:

Here is what you need for this project:

1. A roll or two of seriously beautiful gift wrap

2. Scissors (preferably not nail scissors since they’re difficult to work with)

3. Tape

4. A screwdriver to remove the handles from your dresser. Make sure you have the right screw head before you start - there’s nothing worse than being in the middle of a project and realizing you don’t have the right tools to complete it.

STEPS:

In total, the project took about 40 minutes, and cost me 5 pounds (3 for the paper, 2 for the tape). For the effort and money, the impact is huge and adds some life to the room, not to mention that the project totally transformed a lackluster piece of old furniture into something bright and cheery. What is great about this project is that the choice is totally up to you; you’re in control of the colour and texture of the paper you choose. You could also use fabric, like this amazing dresser we posted a while back. 

If you decide to give this a try, just put on our Rock & Roll & Redesign Pinterest playlist, and by the time it’s over, your project will be complete. We’d also love to see before & after photos, so please send them our way! 

Here are some more after pics:

Katie’s Twitter | Katie’s Blog | Katie’s Portfolio | Katie’s Columns