Decoupaged Map Crate {Mod Podge Madness}

 

Once upon a time, there was a cute little blue crate. It sat on the floor in two cute little boys' bedroom. It had wheels, well, just because someone thought that would make it look even cuter. And it held stuffed animals. A lot of stuffed animals.
Then one day, one of the cute little boys grew older and told his mother, "Stuffed animals are lame, Mom." (his exact words), so...the crate sat lonely...and bored. True story.

So that's how the new unlame crate came to be. Along with it came a little reshuffling of furniture and accessories, which I'll be showing you later this week when I reveal our two youngest sons' shared bedroom.

Here's what you'll need:

1. Crate: I found mine a Michael's, but it was unpainted. Painting is optional, but the colors on your map will be truer if the crate painted a light color. Otherwise, the color of the wood will show through.
2. Map: Maps are generally thin. The thicker the map, the less wrinkles that will show. 
3. Mod Podge: I chose matte because it will show less wrinkles. 
4. Razor blade, paint brush or sponge brush

The How To:

Cut your map two inches longer and wider than the slatted side of the crate and set aside.

Apply your Mod Podge to the slats on one side of the crate.

Carefully lay your map down onto the Mod Podge, starting with one side while smoothing it out with your other hand. If you get a large wrinkle, gently lift the map and smooth it out. Some wrinkles can be smoothed out with your thumb. This is what it looks like once it's all smoothed out.

Now take your razor and cut between the slats. Make sure the razor is flush with the bottom edge of the slat. That way, you will have enough paper to fold over the top of the slat.

Lift the edges between the slats and apply a thin layer of Mod Podge to the underside of the paper. Then fold the paper over the tops of the slats.

Montreal...my ode to my dear friend, Hannah that lives there. And also because a trip to Canada is on my bucket list.

Now all you have left to do is add a layer of Mod Podge to the top of the map and trim off the excess.

Once it dries, Montreal's fault line will be less noticeable.

The crate now holds books on the boys' new/old bookcase that I brought out of our storage building.
I can't wait to show you how I overhauled their bookcase with a little Annie Sloan Chalk Paint!

If you know any secrets on how to do this without getting wrinkles, please share in the comments section! If you know a synonym for wrinkles, let me know because I said "wrinkles" five times in this post. Make that six.

If you like this, then you may also like this post how to decoupage a galvanized pail.

P.S. I'm sharing this on Hometalk. Have you checked it out yet? If not, you should! It's like The DIY Channel and Pinterest eloped and had a baby. I love it because it is more geared towards the home improvement/DIY fanatics like me. While you're there, you can follow me here! 

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