a bookcase makeover.

so i recently showed you guys my living room mini-makeover. basically consisting of taking everything i had that was the color red and quarantining it.

i realized in this picture actually there was something i still didn't "love". something was making me go "hmm... what's wrong here....?" i had decided to paint the back of the bookcase to just bring in a little more color. i got rid of the red, but i mean the room seemed a little flat without some sort of color (i don't think i'm the type who will ever have an all white room.. even though i love the look. i love color too much). so i moved the bookcase onto a sheet in the sunroom to paint the back. i guess i should have taken a picture, but when the thing was out of the corner that corner totally just brightened up. i realized i liked having a lighter color in that corner. then it was decided. the bookcase would get painted white and the back would still be painted the persimmon red color i chose. (i know the color has the word red in it, but i promise that is misleading. it is definitely NOT red.)

so here is my poor sad bookcase before his makeover:

yep that is a big fat rip in the backing. i meant to just rip the backing off and get posterboard (or some sort of thick paper-y type substance) and add the new backing but i got really lazy. i didn't feel like putting a new backing on, and once things are on the shelves you really never see it. so i said, eh whatever. mister crack will stay with us awhile longer. plus what i would like to do is replace the back with beadboard but i didn't have the money to buy any. maybe someday... eventually... there are much more important projects to get done before that, okay? : )

so it was time to pick another paint color. i know people spend all KINDS of time and energy choosing colors. i don't know, it's not that difficult for me. not because i am super-awesome-color-chooser-girl, but because i guess i just make a decision and stick with it. plus i don't look through EVERY single paint supplier's samples before i choose a color. honestly, martha has done me well so far so i think i will stick with her awhile longer. so i got out my trusty martha stewart paint chip book thing-y and this is how i chose the white paint color. now, i have seen people agonize over the right white. i'm serious. don't believe me? read around blogs for awhile and you'll see... i don't think it should be THAT difficult. to be fair to these people, i was just painting one little bookcase and many of them are painting whole rooms that they have to live in. so okay, it's a tiny bit understandable.. but here's how i did it. i took ONE paint supplier's paint sample booklet (i think you will go crazy otherwise) and held up the paint chips of the other colors in my room to each different white. martha stewart has at least 4 or 5 different whites (if not more) so i knew i would find one in there. i liked the way her "picket fence" looked with all my paint chips, so picket fence it was. tah dah!! done. i am not even looking back. check me out. : )

so i went to my nearest home depot and asked the nice people to color match my picket fence white into america's finest paint (much cheaper than martha... i wouldn't always recommend this for a piece of furniture but i figured for my old ripped bookcase that we practically got for free, it would be fine. i won't be heart broken if it doesn't last forever.) and i came home and painted the sucker. i never prime anything. i know i should. i probably create more work and frustration for myself by not doing it, but i'm lazy. and cheap. and i don't want to buy primer. no police have showed up to arrest me yet for not priming. of course i can never tell my stepdad because i think he really might have me arrested. he is serious about things like this. i guess i didn't learn enough from him yet. : ) so anyway, it took 3 coats of paint. it could stand a 4th but... whatever.

here it is after the white was applied

i decided a coat of white on the back would help the persimmon to look better. i guess it was kind of like a primer. look at me, priming stuff kinda : )

by the way, i realized i never mentioned i used semi-gloss for the white and persimmon. i wanted it kinda shiny. i think once again that may have made things a little more difficult (putting glossy paint on a slippery surface) but it was worth it. hey, i like shiny things!

there was one slight headache... i took the shelves out to paint and when i went to put them back in, i guess the 3 coats of paint made everything not fit as well because this happened

yah.... not really what you want. so i just painted over those parts with my brand new beautiful paint brush that i am somewhat in love with, and it was all fixed. it didn't make me any less aggravated when it happened though. darn too-fat-shelves...



then i very carefully painted the backing of the shelves (because it has a rip and also so i didn't get persimmon all over my white shelves) and after drying time (for about a day) i arranged my books in my new favorite organizational method; by color!

notice all red books were placed on the bottom shelf. it may be discrimination, but i don't want to see red anymore. too bad red. deal with it.

looks better in that corner, huh? yep. sure does. (i answer a lot of my own questions. it's a bad habit.)

you can see my painting is definitely not perfect, but these are close up shots. give me a break! nobody will ever notice it just walking by it. can you tell i am so NOT a perfectionist?

before (even thought it says after. i know, kinda tricky.)

after



i have said it before, and i will say it again; i LOVE paint! you should too. : )