map quest

This new craigslist dresser sat empty for several weeks. Mostly because I wanted to thoroughly clean it, inside and out, before filling it with the boys' clothes.

I had only quickly wiped it down when I brought it home, but I removed loads more dirt and grime with a mixture of warm water, vinegar and liquid dawn.

I was sort of on a roll, so I decided to line the drawers with old National Geographic maps I bought on the cheap on ebay years ago. (For awhile, those same maps lined the walls of Jonah and Owen's room, but I took them down when we repainted a few years ago.) 
Since the drawers have that curved front, I had to create a template with some brown kraft paper first, then traced that onto the maps and cut them out. 
I also used 505 adhesive spray to adhere the maps to the drawers. That way there will be no shifting, and the maps, which were previously folded, can lay perfectly smooth and flat. (Tip: spray the map, not the wood.) The spray is a temporary adhesive, so the maps can be removed easily. The whole process was trickier than you might think. (The spray glue was easy. The template cutting was the tricky part because each drawer is not exactly the same size. Slight discrepancies meant lots of trimming.)

I don't usually line my dresser drawers. I know some people do, but I have never really seen the need. Until now. It just seemed like the old drawers, though newly clean, needed a buffer before putting little boys' clothes in them. 

That was a good theory until I realized I was physically and mentally done with this project before getting to the big drawers on the bottom. They remain unlined. And full of clothes. 

Even after my big scrub-down, the dresser still probably needs a good drawer freshener. Maybe some cedar. Also painting is not out of the question. That's just on the back burner for now.