Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Heirloom Bookshelf Redo

We had another slightly slow weekend this Saturday and Sunday (hence the missing post yesterday). What can I say - sometimes life gets in the way of DIY.

Despite being up-to-our-elbows in other life matters, I still managed to squeeze in a little furniture remodel. Nothing too big or shocking, but hey, it still counts!

I was raised in a very book-and-reading-encouraged environment, which is probably why I still love a good book to this day. Seriously, nothing beats snuggling up in bed with a good book (especially if it's storming outside). And so one day my dad made me this:


Yep, when I was about 10 or so he made me a bookshelf. Actually he made me two of them, but I let my brother have the other one - I figured it was only fair (I feel like I should win some sort of Awesome Sister of the Year Award for this one). I have many fond memories of these two unfinished wooden bookshelves sitting in my room, where they held everything from my first phone (yep, it was a "normal" landline phone, but I thought it was the coolest thing ever to have my own phone and line in my room, haha), candles, books, and my extensive model horse collection (which I still have in storage.... somewhere). I think at one point the bookshelves even had posters - probably Backstreet Boys or Ricky Martin or NYSNC ones - plastered all over them in classic teen fashion.

Good times.

Anyways, I thought the bookshelf would be a perfect piece of my own childhood to pass onto Baby M, so he can use it to store books and toys and create his own memories around the very bookshelf that his own Grandpa built and his Mom used and loved for many years. Plus I really like the simple and clean lines of it - no fuss or frills on this baby, nuh-uh.

But first - it needed some touchups and a facelift STAT. So I broke out the caulk and wood putty and got to work filling in the gaps and dents and slapped on a coat of no-voc primer. Already lookin' better! (Why yes, that IS a plunger on our fireplace. Don't ask.)


And 1 coat of paint later...


And since 1 coat wasn't enough, a second coat of low-voc paint later and the bookshelf was done!


Here it is all done up and pretty in it's new space. It fits underneath the double-window perfectly! Whether or not it will stay there is up in the air, seeing as how we still have to paint the room and move the crib in (did I mention we got a crib already?), but I have to say that I'm super-pleased with how the bookshelf turned out. A simple redo, but it really puts the finishing touch on the bookshelf.




In fact, I was so excited about it that I had a hard time not filling up the bookshelf immediately with books and fabric toy bins, but that would've been a waste of time since we're gonna be getting our paint on this weekend to slap some color on those boring off-white walls. Sigh.

Anyone else have any special pieces of furniture that mean something to them? Maybe it's a piece that was made by you or for you, or a piece that holds special memories? Spill the beans and let's get all nostalgic in here.
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3 comments:

  1. Wow the before and after are very impressive! I'm sure our son will love it :-) And it has a story, even before we put a book on the shelf! Pretty neat.

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  2. Such a lovely family heirloom! Amazing how a coat of pain can transform something into a fresh start for new stories and memories! :)

    Super cute!
    ~Tia

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  3. Aww so sweet and meaningful! Great job too! Can't wait to see the paint up.

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