I want to really learn how to do some things I would never dream of doing. I'm planning to take a few classes in the coming months, and I hope to share those with you as I get the courage to go and complete them.
Today's very simple project was transforming a very solid wood finished bookcase that I have lately had tucked in the guest room stuffed with children's books. Since the first big project was refreshing the guest room to be our youngest son's room, I needed to remove everything. That bookcase just didn't seem to fit with what we wanted to do in there.
So, I moved it to the weird hallway, and well that's when the vision came to life.
My plan: paint the bookcase white and put on the wall to the right of the doorway. Then I will take the built-in shelves on the left and pain them white as well for continuity.
The vision has been a lot like a butler's pantry area for kitchen items and cookbooks to live.
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| Here is the placement before. |
We have a new Annie Sloan Chalk Paint supplier in town (Rustic Trading Company), so I popped in to pick up some trusty Old White, along with Hale Navy (for some other projects) and some clear wax. This store is so cute by the way, and I highly recommend stopping in to see their great selection of home goods, including a whole tea section!! I am planning to attend some of their upcoming painting classes soon too.
This was a pretty basic project here are the particulars:
-Lightly sanded and wiped the surfaces
-Three coats of Annie Sloan Old White Chalk Paint
-Light sanding with hand sanding block
-Stroke on clear wax with a chip paint brush similar to this, then wipe off with paper towel
-Buff with cloth diaper to finish
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| Light sanding pre-paint |
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| First coat |
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| Pretty sure this is the third coat, I just can't remember |
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| Finished Product |
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| New color, new life |
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| Very light sanding and distressing on the finished product. |
Lastly, I painted the wall shelves the traditional white trim so that both sides seem to be in harmony with one another. I still have a lot of work to do in this area: finishing the office doors, painting the walls and thoughtfully placing items I need on the shelves that are both pleasing to look at and useful.
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| Left side of the door shelves painted with white trim. |
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| Newly painted bookshelf, living it's best life. |
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| Updated weird hallway :) |
That's really my mission - making things functional. Thank you for joining my journey to functional DIY projects, and repurposing items we already have to better fit the functionality and space we have in our home.
