Customizing an IKEA bookshelf

We purchased this IKEA bookshelf years ago when we moved to Los Angeles.

 above image courtesy of IKEA

When we moved to Nashville we brought it with us, but it did not travel well!  The back of the shelf has a cardboard/particle board thingie (very technical term!) that holds the entire shelf upright and after the move it split. We tried to repair it with tape (why??  I don't know?), but it just wasn't working.  We didn't want E to grab onto it and the whole thing come toppling down on her.  Instead of throwing her out I decided to try and fix the old girl.

I painted the shelf with Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint in Paris Gray.  I wasn't sure if it would work since I have never really painted anything with Chalk Paint that wasn't real wood.  Needless to say ASCP worked wonders!  Here is a picture with the frame painted.  Sorry for the blurriness.. I snagged this with my phone which usually takes better pictures than this, but I guess the only one to blame is the photographer...

I wanted to do something with the back of the shelf so I had some thin paneling type board (again..so technical around here) cut from Home Depot.  I wasn't going to tell you all this, but I will go ahead and be honest.  I had to buy it and have it cut twice, since apparently I can't use a measuring tape. It cost about $9.00 (times 2 = $18) for the back board.  I then covered the panel with fabric I got at Joann's with a 50% off coupon.  Total for the fabric came to about $10.00.  I used about 2.5 yds.  I used spray adhesive to hold the fabric onto the paneling and then nailed the back in place. 

Now that I'm looking at the shelf I am really loving the fabric on the back and the splashes of red.  I'll be posting all about or home office re-do shortly, so stay tuned for that.

Danielle


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