By Monica Ewing, Sunset senior designer

I bought this letter bin on clearance at Target a couple years ago. Let’s face it: It’s seen better days. Plus, to quote my sister, it’s “really ugly.” So, I gave it a makeover. This is how I did it…

Step 1 Disassemble, sand, and paint
I unscrewed and removed each bin, then sanded the entire surface with fine sand paper. After removing the sanding dust with tack cloth, I painted on a coat of primer. When that was dry, I painted three coats of the same black paint that I used to paint the drawer unit (in photo above).

Tip #1 Disposable gloves will prevent the tack cloth’s sticky substance from getting on your hands. That stuff doesn't come off.
Tip #2 Use paint that’s made for wood. It will give you a harder finish, but will take longer to dry. I used Benjamin Moore Metal & Wood Enamel in Space Black (2119-10).

Step 2 Attach cup hooks
Finding silver cup hooks was a challenge. After checking every local hardware store without results, I bought a pack of 7/8” nickel-plated cup hooks at Shop.com. But, after removing the bins, I discovered that the bottoms were little more than 1/8” thick, which wouldn’t be enough to screw cup hooks into. So, I found a scrap piece of wood at The Home Depot that was the perfect thickness. I cut a piece to fit in the bottom of the bin, sanded it, and painted one side with black paint. When it was dry, I clamped it to the bottom bin, and drilled pilot holes in the spots I had already measured and marked. Then I screwed each cup hook into the pre-drilled holes.

Step 3 Reassemble and attach label holders
I bought metal label holders from JoAnn’s and four 1/4” screws from Ace Hardware. After I screwed the bins back in place, I measured and marked where I wanted each label holder to go. Then, I pre-drilled holes and attached the label holders. Finally, I made labels on my computer and dropped them into each holder. All I had to do next was hang it back on the wall and let it fully dry over the next few days. 

Next week: Bookshelf makeover.