Monday, February 4, 2013

Dress-Up Your Bookcase!

For Christmas, my daughter received a paint bucket, roller cover, and a paint brush.  Her face was priceless.  She had gotten the shaft in the present department, and she knew it.  However, once I explained that she was getting her room redecorated, she was excited about her present.  The task was supposed to take up the vacation time between Christmas and New Year's.  Illness made that impossible, but the room makeover is underway!

We painted the walls white and added lots of pink accents.  I have been looking for decorating ideas for the last several weeks.  I even set up a secret board on Pinterest!  She needed a bookcase to hold all of her treasures.  I wanted it to have some personality.  I came across THIS, which gave me the idea to do this....

A quick fabric makeover for a build-yourself shelf!

I picked up THIS little kit at the store and set about putting it together.  It was a really easy project.  It took about an hour to assemble (and that includes my extra work covering the backs).  Four of the nine cubes are open to the back.   The other five have a closed back.  I covered the cardboard backs before I nailed them to the back of the bookcase.  Here's how...

Assemble your bookcase.
 Use a large open space in your house to put your bookcase together.  It is really simple.  

These are the fabrics my daughter chose for her room.  They are absolutely perfect! 
My daughter always wonders why my favorite color is green.  She says that it is not a girl color.  I disagree.  Green is an awesome girl color.  She prefers pink so with these fabrics we have the best of both worlds! 

Fold the fabric several times.
I laid a cardboard back on the folded fabric and cut several covers at once.  I opted to use the paisley fabric on the four corners and the green in the center.  I left about two inches on each side for folding and securing.  

Cut the fabric at least 2 inches larger than the cardboard. 
Fold over the corners and secure them with packing tape.  Pull them tightly.  The cardboard pieces came folded in half.  I weighted them down with my pinking sheers to keep them from folding while I did the taping. 

I had to use my pinking sheers because I could not find my sewing scissors.  Can you believe that!  Shameful, truly shameful.

The cardboard backs had tiny divots to show you where to place the nails when securing the cardboard to the back of the bookcase.  I used a pen to transfer the marks to the fabric from the cardboard.  That way I would know where to pound the nails. 

Look closely,  you can see the marks.
I started by nailing the center panel because it was the most difficult to reach AND because it needed to be in place before the outer panels were secured.  Each panel took 12 nails.  It is a wonder that I only have one bruised thumbnail.  It did not feel good. 

Securing the panels!  Watch out for your thumbs. 

I LOVE how the bookcase turned out, and more importantly, my daughter LOVES it.  It is perfect for her dolls, books, jewels, and such.  Here are a few close-ups of the cubby holes. 

Corner squares
Center square










The center square fabric is difficult to see, but it looks awesome especially as a contrast to the paisley fabric at the corners.  It looks great peeking out from behind her books and toys.  See...

I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the lamp.


I have plans for the open-backed cubbies too.  My plan involves these canvas drawers.  Check back or click HERE to see what I do with them.  

Canvas drawers

I would love it if you became a follower of my blog.  You can find me HERE on Facebook too, and of course, I'm HERE on Pinterest!  

Here are some other crafty things from my blog you might enjoy!

Make your own Hide And Seek Bag!  This headband looks great on little heads and even not-so-little heads - Twisted Flower Headband.  Put together a Lined Canvas Backpack just in time for travel season. 

Thanks for visiting!

1 comment:

Sara said...

Cool idea! Nice way to dress up a dresser for little money!