How to Make Drawer Dividers

I recently purchased one of these handy-dandy carts, for the purpose of holding all my unmentionables in a neat and tidy manner. The problem with that is that these carts, while handy-dandy, are not conducive to being neat and tidy. I know myself well enough to be certain that within a month, the inside of each drawer would look like a bomb went off in there. So I figured out how to make drawer dividers.

I’m too cheap frugal to buy something when I could make it myself. That, and drawer dividers are generally ugly. I want cute, not ugly.

Here’s what you need to make drawer dividers:

– A heavy piece of corrugated cardboard (any cardboard thick enough that it won’t bend)

– Pre-pasted wallpaper border

– Scissors

– Measuring tape

– Utility knife

You *may* also need this. But I’ll get to that later. For now, fuhgeddaboutit.

First, measure the length, width, and height of the drawer in question. Write it down!

The next step is all in your head – think about how you want everything arranged inside the drawer. Rows, divided into little compartments, etc. When you have that figured out, start making your measurements on the cardboard.

For the height of the dividers, you can choose whatever height you like. I cut mine half as tall as the drawers themselves.

Mark the measurements on the cardboard and carefully cut them out with a utility knife. It helps to score the cardboard first, then snap it, and finish cutting. If there are any rough edges, trim them with scissors. Then put them inside the drawer to make sure they fit.

Two dividers running lengthwise worked well in this drawer, so I didn’t cut any to run the width of the drawer.

Cut the wallpaper border to the size needed. Is that wallpaper border not wonderful?! I wanted something abstract, but when I saw this one I had to have it. There’s just something about having Bette Davis and Rita Hayworth in your sock drawer that’s irresistible.

Anyway. Cut the border to length and height. I left the height on mine alone, as it was large enough to just fold in half over the divider. To apply the border, follow the instructions on the package. Mine was the typical application – get it wet, and apply with a squeegee.

Now, I would like to issue a kindly word of warning here. My only previous experience with wallpaper had been a good one – there is a wallpaper border in my bathroom. It installed beautifully. This stuff, however? It would not stick. To anything. This wallpaper border was sent to me from Satan.

I may or may not have screeched like a 10 year old girl at this point.

So here is what I did. I took my cardboard and painted a pretty heavy layer of Mod Podge on it. Then I squished the paper into place with a squeegee. This worked like a charm.

I would suggest trying a small test square of your wallpaper border, following the directions on the package, before you really get started into this project. If it doesn’t want to stick, just glue the damn thing down instead. Mod Podge works, but regular wallpaper adhesive would also work.

Set the dividers aside to dry, which will take 30 minutes to an hour. Trim any overhanging border.

Install in the drawer, and ta-da! That’s it. It cost me less than $8 for the border, and with that border I’ll be able to make 5 yards of drawer dividers. That’s a bit much, even for me.

There is a variation for this project – feel free to use wrapping paper or scrapbook paper or any other type of paper in place of the wallpaper border. Just wrap the dividers with the paper and tape or glue it in place.

Have fun!

2 thoughts on “How to Make Drawer Dividers”

WhyCuzICan says:

January 19, 2012 at 2:35 am

Very handy tip to organize a drawer …Thanks for sharing today :DVisiting via: The Shabby Creek Cottage's Transformation ThursdaySmiles, Suzanne in NW Illinois at WHYCUZICAN
blacksprucehound@gmail.com says:

January 19, 2012 at 4:06 am

WhyCuzICan – Thanks for visiting!