Do It Yourself Project

with some extra help.  Most of you probably know that we are homeschooling this year. (I am going to get around to post about that... promise) 

Well I decided if I were going to do this, I was going to do it right. Education, classroom, organization and all. 

For me as an Art Major with an emphasis in 3D and interior design having an unorganized UGLY room wasn't going to work for me. But... with me not working at all now my options are limited.  Here is one project I am particularly pleased with.  It all started with...

Carolina Cross Connection (where Adam works) was getting rid of these two old ugly bookshelves. The budget side of me cringed and said "Yes, I'll take them instead of buying bookshelves."

The interior design side of me me wanted to pout. Yes I know! SILLY.

But then the creative side kicked in! All I needed was white paint, fabric and a few pieces of crown molding.

The whole family pitched in and helped paint.

Yeah they did manage to get some paint on the shelves.
We actually ended up painting the shelves twice... lets just say that you SHOULD sand them first. The first two coats of paint just peeled right off... I didn't even need a paint scraper! UGH. :) For a fleeting moment I thought about burning these and going to buy white shelves. I actually looked it up online... "never mind even the 'cheap' shelves like these are $80 a piece. Back to plan A"

I bought some crown molding for $25. Enough to put around the top and bottom of each book case.

Then we REPAINTED! (after we sanded)

My kids are so handy!

We painted and painted, then painted some more.   I had already taken the cheap cardboard-like backs off of the shelves. (When we build our new house I want the "school room" to be navy and white with splashes of other color. Most of which I already have.) So... I bought some navy and white zig zag fabric for $20 and 'mod podged' the fabric on to the original backs. Using the original tacks that were holding the backs on to begin with I reattached the backs and

WALLAH!

I now have two pieces of art for bookshelves instead of two cheap ugly shelves!
$15 for a gallon of paint (yep that covered the shelves both times!)
$25 for crown molding
$20 for fabric
$0 for the shelves. (I already had the mod podge and tools I needed as well)
=$60 for two shelves that make me smile!

instead of
$160 (at best) for plain boring shelves.
Not bad huh?

PS it has been called to my attention that I don't blog enough... ;) So I am going to try to step it up a little. This one is for you Boston family ;)