Cottage Dream

Customizing the inside of an armoire outfits it for any need you might have.

Bedrooms blessed with charm often lack storage. Add a twist of both with this fresh-as-lemonade closet. A clothing rod and stack of drawers make the closet perfect for storing one season's wardrobe. Paint and wallpaper make the embellishments easy.

Paint the body of the closet yellow (or choose a color that coordinates with your room and wallpaper motifs); paint the doors and drawers white. Using a ruler and a hard-lead pencil, divide the door panels into an even number of rectangles or squares. We divided our door width by 4 and length by 12 to get rectangles measuring 2-1/4 x 2-1/8 inches. Mark drawer fronts in the same manner, making squares or rectangles measuring about an inch. Note: These measurements are for the armoire shown. Yours will vary.

Using painter's tape, mask off every other square, forming a checkerboard. Paint these squares in the first color. Cut out wallpaper motifs (ours are lemons, leaves, and flowers) with scissors or a crafts knife. Glue to the doors and drawers with white crafts glue. Smooth with your fingers, credit card, or brayer. Wipe away excess glue.

When the glue dries, apply two or more coats of clear water-based polyurethane to the doors and drawer fronts.