Shelf DIY Project

I must warn you now, this post has nothing to do with food. I just thought I did such an amazing job with this project that I wanted to share to with the world! (hehe!)

Because I run a daycare from my home, I get bored with my home decor very easily. I'm constantly on the lookout for DIY decorating projects that I can manage on a budget. I saw this idea a few years ago on some show on HGTV or DIY network and after staring at this...

...for weeks, I knew this project was going to be next. Here's the finished product:

So much better!! So here's my adventure...

First I had to fill all of those ugly holes. They're there so you can adjust the height of the shelves, but they had  all been screwed in by my in-laws (the previous owners of these bookcases) so they were useless.

Then I had to fill in the holes that had been punch into the back.

Here's the trim that I picked out.

I completely forgot to take pictures during the measuring, sawing, and caulking of the trim. Sorry! I was trying to get it done before dark and I completely spaced it. Just imagine some super impressive shots involving me with measuring tape and a saw, cuz that's pretty much how it went down.

After putting puddy in between the cracks in the trim, I primed it. I used a gray primer so the black would look better.

Then a coat of glossy black...

Rinse and repeat for the inside.

Hello Mr. Bug!

Next, was what was supposed to be the most tedious part...adding the accent paint to the trim. I started by trying to hand paint each vine. That turned out to be a hot mess..

No matter how small of a brush I used, it wasn't small enough. The paint kept spilling over the edges of the design and when I tried to wipe the excess away, most of the paint in the grooves were wiped away too. Very irritating, but it gave me an idea. I loaded up a brush with my metallic silver paint, and globbed it into the crevices. Using a damp rag, I gently wiped away the top. It took two coats to come out as bright as I wanted it to, but it was so much faster!!

And that's it! My masterpiece was complete. 

Before starting, my goal was to write this post and tell you what the grand total was. Sadly, my husband's dog knocked over the can of gray primer and spilled it all over the floor. (I can almost hear your hand slapping your foreheads.) I managed to get the majority of it out of the carpet, but half of the can was wasted, so we had to buy another can. Lesson learned, dogs + paint + apartment carpet = no security deposit back! Ah well, c'est la vie!

I hope you're as amazed by how great it looks as my hubby was!

Happy crafting!