DIY Wood-Grain Laptop Wrap

When I was wandering through the dollar store the other day I came across this super amazing wood-grain contact paper. and was completely smitten! I knew I needed to find something to cover it with - pronto!

Enter, my lapytop. This poor beast is old, makes a crazy fan-sound whenever it's on, and can't really handle doing more than one tast - but it works! and that's all that really counts. Until this morning it was covered in all sorts of bumper stickers to hide the numerous dents and scratches. But after a some scraping, a little goo-be-gone and a date with some contact paper - it's unique and cute again and makes me smile!

So, I had plenty of photos of the entire process, but my camera is also an old and quirky beast and has taken to randomly deleting photos, which it decided to do half-way through the whole DIY process, so sorry! (donations to the Josie-gets-a-new-camera fund are greatly appreciated - JUST KIDDING!:) So I will attempt to explain things better then I normally do...

So, to start, go ahead and power off your laptop and take out the battery so you're free to work on it without any worries. If you have all sorts of junk on yours, like I had on mine, you can scrape it off and use a little adhesive remover to get it nice and clean again.

Now, unroll your contact paper, and lay your computer on top with the grain going wichever way you want, then cut around it, leaving a large boreder on all sides (you'll trim it down later).

Now, you can decide what you'd like to do about the logo on your cover. I decided I wanted mine to outline it, so I used a piece of tracing paper to trace the outline, then laid it over the contact paper in the middle, and cut out using a x-acto knife (I used a little piece of tape to keep it in place while I cut it out). You could also just cut a large round window for it and use a bottle cap or anything that's nice and round.

After you cafefully remove the backing, lay it gently on top of your laptop, careful to line-up where your logo cut-out is, and smooth the contact paper out. Then, flip over so the top of your laptop is now on the floor, and begin trimming the edges. I used my straight-edge ruler and "eyed" it the best I could, re-trimming it if I needed to. Then you just fold up around the edges of your laptop.

If you don't have a round edge laptop, or just don't want your cover to "bleed over" you can also just take the measurements of the area that you want to cover and cut it out before you apply it. And if you'd like your corners rounded a scrapbooking photo-round cutter would work perfect!

I also decided to do the inside too since it was pretty beat-up looking as well - I used pretty much the same type of process to do the inside that I used on the outside, tracing the trackpad and cutting it out beforehand to get the right size.

I'm not gunna lie - I'm totally in love with it!
Have you done any fun projects with contact paper before? I'd love some more ideas!

Comments

[Wren]

Super cute! I love it. That is such a brilliant idea.

Wren
http://houseofwren.blogspot.com/

[Elizabeth]

I LOVE IT Josie!!!!! I wish my dollar store had such awesome finds.

[Jen]

This is one of the best DIY projects I've seen in such a long time. Your laptop looks amazing with the woodgrain paper. A little retro, a little vintage- perfection!

[Elisabeth]

i love the extra effect on the touchpad area. gorgeous!

[C Marcia (Sequins)]

Love the idea--I've been wanting to cover mine for a while now, but I'm too scared to take the plunge until I see other DIY projects. Thanks for the courage!

[Andy Short]

I think you're crazy for using a G4 in 2012 but that looks really good I must admit.

[Scout]

I love this!

[FineandFeathered]

Andy - I agree, haha! This thing is OLD, but as long as it works, why not?

[emilie]

looks awesome ! what a great idea !

[Michelle Clement]

Ohmygosh...it looks gorgeous!! :)

[Erin]

I did this to my laptop a couple of years ago. I must say it has warn great! I didn't take the time to cut out the apple logo so mine shows through with a soft wood-grain glow.

[Drew]

How did you get the rounded corners to turn out so good?

[FineandFeathered]

Drew - I cut a slit at the turn and trimmed the excess!

[Brit]

Wow!! Totally going to do this!

[Chelsea Taff]

I'm really wanting to do this to mine, but mine is newer and I'm afraid that I may not want to commit to the wood grain for the next five years. After you put it on, is it fairly difficult to remove?

[FineandFeathered]

It's actually quite easy to remove, and if for some reason you did have problems adhesive remover works wonders!

[Vic]

I love this idea! My laptop could do with a bit of brightening up, think I've found the solution!

[JayTay]

I'm trying this out after wanting a wood grain look for my laptop for a few months now, but I can not figure out how to apply the contact paper without massive bubbles forming, any tips?

[Stephanie S.]

This is great! I hope you don't mind if I pin it!!
http://pinterest.com/pin/37436240622572909/

[Wood Grain Pro]

I teach faux wood paint, so I love the look of this project.

Now I'm obsessing about whether or not I can grain my laptop in acrylics.

I'll get back to you on that...

Really lovely work and thanks for the post!

[Stephanie]

I love it! My laptop is all old and sad - this would be just the ticket to make it look less tired.

I just used fun black and white floral contact paper to line the inside cupboard doors of my refurbished sewing table. It makes me cheerful every time I open the doors. I"m also planning to line the back of the medicine cabinets with contact paper. Don't you just love a surprise when you open a cupboard?

[Michelle]

This project would work with an iPad also!

[Samantha]

I can't get enough of this!

[Ali Lynne]

this is seriously an amazing DIY... way cool!

[Sara Poer]

love this diy! thanks for sharing. i used in my weekend craft ideas post this week!