Friday, September 12, 2008

DIY // trashcan + faux bois


faux bois: french, "fake wood"
savvy?

My bathroom trashcan was charcoal-grey, metal and rock-star-fabulous. And then, there was the big move & it got crushed. Yesterday evening I was at my local TrueValue and picked up a few materials for a DIY I've been dreaming about. (it's because of this. ever since I saw it, I've wanted to play too...) As you can see, our bathroom is bright white on...bright white. So things have a tendency to look really stark in there. I needed something with a little warmth and a little texture so here's what I did...

Materials:
-1 cheap trashcan (the more simple the shape, the easier it will be to wrap)
-1 roll of wood grain contact paper (approx: $3.99)
-X-acto knife or scissors whatever you're more comfortable with
-ruler
-cutting mat (if you go the X-acto route)

Measure your can's vertical height, add one & a half inches to that number. Mine was 14" tall so I cut 15.5" strips of contact paper. You need a little extra to tuck under the bottom to keep it seamless to prevent peeling.

Make each strip somewhere between 3-6" wide...your call

I laid my strips on vertically, starting at the top so I could smooth the extra under the can easily.

Just layer the strips on, the great thing is the wood grain looks seamless no matter what you do!

*note: watch out for bubbles, you'll have to go back and smooth them out!

1 comment:

amanda said...

love it! you should send that in to d*s, grace would love it (and why shouldn't she, it's faux bois?) i've been trying to figure out what in our home to cover in paper myself... the trashcans may be a great start...