Redoing a bargain bookshelf.

I've been looking for a bookshelf for Tabitha's room for a while. But I didn't want to spend a fortune, especially not after she ripped (ie chewed) a chunk out of her wooden Pottery Barn Kids bed. I don't know about your kids, but mine is a little tornado. She is hard on everything. So I've been going to the DI every few weeks looking to see if they had anything. A few weeks ago I made a MAJOR score! I found a kids bookshelf for $8! It was disgustingly ugly in crazy bright primary colors, but who cares it was $8! Besides I had my free paint from Ace from a few months ago to fix this sucker up! (BTW Ace is having its free paint deal again today August 4th 2012. Go here to get the printable coupon.)

Here it is in all its glory! Haha! I do really like the cutouts on the side, though I wish the shelves were a little taller. 

So the first thing I did was wipe it down with vinegar. Then off to Walmart I went to get spray on primer in white. If I were doing this again I would probably get regular primer and roll it on. The spray did not go on evenly no matter how I tried. It was either drippy or blotchy. I used 2 cans of spray on primer for this bookshelf but could have easily used a 3rd, I was just cheap. 

Here it is primed. As you can see it really needed another coat of primer, I was just really too cheap. Besides, I was painting it dark pink, I could just do an extra coat, since that paint was free. 

                                

I used a small roller I got for free with another free paint sample I got from Lows a few months ago and did 3 coats on it. On the inside I only did 2 because Eva started to get fussy and you can see a little of the other paint behind it, but i'm the only one who noticed and its gonna be jam packed with books so its ok. 

 I love that little star and heart. 

Ok so for the shelves, i only did 2 layers of paint because they were going to be covered with fabric. 

It really depends on how big your shelves are and how many different kinds of fabrics you want to use, for how much you will need. 

So what you need: 

Fabric Modge Podge. I only had one new bottle and I ran out and ended up covering the fabric and the bottom letters with glossy modge podge. 

a foam paint brush, 

fabric

scissors 

a rotary cutter or exacto knife really help, but aren't necessary. 

The top fabric I only had a fat quarter that I got in a fat quarter swap a few years ago. I love this fabric but it wasn't wide enough to go all the way across so I measured and cut off what I needed and started with the small piece. I put down some modge podge and then laid the fabric down, carefully stretching it and smoothing out all bubbles as I went. 

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I then laid the larger piece over the smaller piece, so they overlapped just a little. I then painted on the modge podge and carefully laid down the fabric. I tucked it around the back of the shelf so you didn't see any raw edges. I went over the seam with modge podge to make sure it stuck and moved onto the next shelf. 

I covered the next two shelves the same way, although I had enough fabric that I didn't have to cut and lay two pieces on each shelf. For the back of the shelf since I couldn't pull the fabric around, I made sure there were no loose threads and got the edge of the fabric right up against the back of the bookshelf. After all the shelves had fabric on them, I went back and covered them with a coat of shiny modge podge. I did this for two reasons, if Tabitha spills anything on it I can wipe it off easily, and I don't have to worry about the fabric bubbling up later. 

Since the bottom is going to hold her bedroom toys I added the word at the bottom (Although I probably should have printed off letters and then traced them rather than free handing it but oh well.) I also noticed after I had gotten the Y on that it was very off center. Thats what I get for hurrying so I could get it done and the room aired out before bed time. I've decided I'm going to paint some blocks on it next to the T to even it out.

You can see the back of the shelf where the fabric is right up against the back. When it dried I cut off any of the fabric that was sticking up the back with an exacto knife and re modge podged it. (The modge podge on the letters was still wet which is why it was white around them, it dries clear).

Tabitha loves her new bookshelf, she always asks for alone time to read her books in her room now, which is so cool. 

Over all this project cost me about $15. The bookshelf was $8, the paint was free, the fabric I already had (The top and bottom shelf I got from fabric exchanges and the middle shelf was left over from a dress I made Tabitha). I bought a paint brush (which I didn't like the look of, and would recommend a mini roller instead. I ended up going over everywhere morgen painted with the brush to give it a more even look)$0.50 and a paint tray $0.50, 2 cans of spray on primer $3 each. If your paint has primer in it, you can skip the primer and just do some extra layers of paint. 

I'm really loving how this came out and now I want to repaint more of our furniture! I'm trying to get Morgen to let me ombre paint our dresser, and I need to repaint the crib since Tabitha ruined it. 

What painting projects have you been doing this summer?