Apothecary Drawer Advent Calendar DIY

Once again, the Christmas season is upon us and once again, I’m running late with my Christmas DIYs. Every year, without fault. I’m like a really rubbish Santa Claus. Luckily, this Advent calendar DIY doesn’t have to be just for December… this would make a brilliant gift for all year round and is so simple to make.

I started with a 25 drawer organiser that I found in The Works for £15 (or 2 for £20) but if you were to make this as a gift rather than an Advent calendar, then any small drawer organiser would do.

How To: Advent Calendar DIY

To make the Apothecary drawer unit look more substantial, I felt that it needed ‘beefed’ up a bit. To give it more substance and look less ‘budget’, I started by turning the drawers around. This would allow me to add drawer pulls, giving it the feel of an item of furniture. I also wanted to add wood to fill in the gaps between the drawers, onto which I originally thought I would add the numbers. I found an old off-cut of garden trellis (I think it was from Poundland) that was the perfect fit. I gave it a light sand as it was a little too rough. I glued it in position with an all purpose adhesive.

For the outside frame, I had some leftover wood from a previous project that had a nice rustic feel. I cut it to size and simply butted each end against the other, rather than do any fancy mitred joints. I used wood glue to secure these into position and used clamps to hold it until it dried. You could easily weight each side down if you don’t have clamps.

For the knobs, I used wooden beads, given a light sand to flatten on one side. This gives a better surface to glue it to the drawer. I used some wood glue to fill the visible hole on the bead and the all-purpose adhesive to glue it into position.

Once everything was secured and dry, I gave the whole frame a coat of a very dark brown paint (I mixed black and burnt umber acrylic paint together, adding a little water to make it more of a stain). I then painted the drawers with slightly watered down turquoise acrylic, to allow the wood grain to show through. I added a little more water to the dark brown mix, washing it over the turquoise and rubbing it back to age down the colour.

To make the apothecary drawer numbers, I printed out two different typefaces in two different font sizes… I used 22pt and 26pt. It took a few attempts to get something that looked right. I wanted to give the impression that some numbers had been replaced over time. I’m not trying to kid anyone here… it just felt like a fun little feature. You could use a wider variety of sizes and typefaces if you’re feeling particularly fancy. I spray mounted the sheet to thin card before cutting it to size. I tried to keep to two sizes, to go with the two fonts. I then added some fake nail heads and borders because I was feeling a little extra. Whilst I was in that mood, I glued the numbers on to the drawers instead of the bars in-between. Why? Because it is so much more fun to search for your advent door, than to know exactly where it is.

Now fill it with sweets or whatever takes your fancy. I recommend chocolate. Always chocolate.

This Apothecary Drawer Advent calendar DIY only took around two hours to complete (not including glue drying time) and cost less than £20. Happy days!!

For more christmas inspo and a mercury glass inspired makeover, check out this post from the archives.