I do not have a lot of cosmetics but there is enough of them to make a mess of my dressing table after a frantic morning of getting ready for work. I use to throw my powders, blushers, eyeshadows etc. back into a caddy on my table after I use them but more often than not, it was hard fitting them all back in so I leave them out (as seen in the picture). This would really annoy my husband.

I took some inspiration from those Ikea magnetic spice containers which you may seen before, and decided to use the idea of sticking items onto a vertical surface and apply it to my cosmetics and an empty wall. I hope you like my creation.

Step 1: Step One - Choosing the Look of the Boards

First, I bought 2 shallow stainless steel metal pans from the local utilities shop. I chose squares ones that would fit into the space I had in mind. They cost me $2.50 AUD each.

For the fabric covering, I chose some kitchy Chinese fabric left over from previous projects. I cut the panels so that they were bigger than the pans themselves, knowing that I would l need to stretch the edges on the backside of the pans.

I made sure the fabric was nice and neat by ironing the fabric panels.

Step 2: Step Two - Attaching the Fabric

The next step was to attach the fabric to the metal pans. My husband knowledgeably told me that PVA will not glue the fabric onto the metal so I needed to find another adhesive. When I searched on the internet, it suggested epoxy glues like Araldite but that was going to be hell to spread evenly. Spray adhesive was also mentioned but we didn't have any at home so I decided to give the double sided tape we had at home a go. I made a grid patten on my pan so that there were lots of contact points between the pan and the fabric. I also made sure I put tape on the rims carefully. The tape was surprisingly strong and I would use the same method again for fixing fabric to metal. However, if you know that your magnetic board may come in contact with liquid or will get dirty easily, you may need to research into another method.

After taping the pan as shown in the photo, I laid the fabric over the top and worked from the centre of the pan, slowly pushing fabric onto the tape in an outwards manner.

Step 3: Step Three - Finishing the Magnetic Board

After the fabric was taped nicely to the front, I used duct tape to stretch and secure the edges around the back of the pan.

I used some 3M Command double sided wall strips to stick the pans to the wall. I let these pans stay up on the wall without the cosmetics for several hours to let the strips settle (as suggested by the manufacturer).

Step 4: Step Four - Attaching Magnets to the The Cosmetics

I bought some cheap magnets from the utility store as well. These cost $1 AUD for 8. I used a screwdriver to prise the magnets from their cheap plastic casings. The beauty with these magnets were that they were stuck to the plastic casings with double sided foam tape. This meant that once they were prised out, I just stuck the magnets using their existing foam tape onto the back of my cosmetic cases. For small cosmetics, I just used one magnet, for bigger ones, I used two. The other idea I had for magnets was to use the strip magnets which you can buy by the metre. This may give you a flatter finish on the back of your cosmetics as they are thinner than the ones I used. However, they might not be as strong either.

(When sticking the magnets onto your cosmetics cases, don't stick them over the name of the colour of that particular product. Otherwise, you may not know the name of your favourite shade when you want to repurchase).

Step 5: Finished Project

And here is the finished product!

I am quite pleased with the result as it saves a lot of dressing table space and adds a little more flair to this corner of the room.