How many times have you been in Goodwill or yard sales and seen remnants of the country decor of the 80’s and early 90’s?
Let’s get a good mental picture now… Unfinished brown wood shelving, country blue wallpaper border with white geese on it wearing little bow ties. Mauve pink curtains with lots of ruffles, handpainted one-stroke roses on every possible surface. Faux ivy vines with plastic grapes and magnolia flowers on any flat surface just out of reach of dusting… You with me? I think I’m having a flashback of our first rental house, fully decorated, complimentary of the homeowner (that’s a story for another time).
Recently, I was offered such a relic for free. This cute little country shelf is solid wood, and of course I gladly accepted. Can’t you just picture it in it’s past life holding little knick-knacks? Maybe Cherished Teddies or Precious Moments?
The first thing I did was knocked the curvy topper off. It was just hammered in with two nails, so that was easy to remove.
After giving it a good scrub down, it got a coat of primer and two new coats of leftover white trim paint. I’m all about using paint I have leftover from other projects. Sorry, somehow I didn’t snap a picture of this step, but I think it’s pretty self explanatory.
Next, because I’ve never been properly schooled on the use of power tools (yet) and my husband doesn’t care to ever learn, I had my dad cut a piece of scrap wood for a back.
He also marked lines for me on the back of the wood so I’d know where to nail it without damaging it.
I knew I wanted the back to have some color, but couldn’t decided if I should paint each section, add scrapbook paper to each square, or something else.
Then I remembered all the old maps I picked up at a yard sale this past spring. Perfect!
I picked a map that had a variety of colors, and cut it to size.
I got out my handy dandy Mod Podge and glued that baby to the back.
I nailed the back onto the shelves. By following those lines dad had drawn for me, I didn’t mess up and have to pull a nail out and start over.
He added a couple screws and wire for hanging, and anchored it into the wall for safety.
I’m just going to say here that I love that my dad still helps me with projects like this. Each time I present him with a new idea, he patiently goes with it and helps me however I need him to.
The end result is awesome. These updated shelves have a new home in my art room. They hold my paint brushes and 21st Century knick-knacks, including the owls I made over a few weeks ago.
Always keep your eyes open while treasure hunting. Don’t discard that item from a decor trend gone by. Well, then again, if you see a roll of wallpaper border with those annoying little geese, it’s actually ok to just keep on walking.
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wow! This is so cool! love it!
I would love it if you would share this and/or any other projects you have been up to at Tuesday Talent Show at Chef In Training Tomorrow! Plus there is going to be a fun giveaway too! Thanks so much and I hope to see you there!
-Nikki
http://chef-n-training.blogspot.com/
I LOVE it!! what a great little shelf. If you get a chance I would love you to link your makeover up to More the Merrier Monday. It lasts through Wednesday so you have plenty of time to stop by. See you there. http://diyhshp.blogspot.com/
Oh this is great! I have several of these 'relics' in my basement . . . I was going to pitch them but now having second thoughts! LOVE the map as the background!
This is crazy! I just last week had my husband cut me a piece of wood for the back of a shelf similar to this b/c I wanted to put a map on the back for a gift for my sister! I saw a huge bookshelf on Pinterest that had this technique done so I wanted to do it on a smaller scale! Yours turned out fabulous and now I'm SO excited to get mine finished!
Beautiful makeover! I loved the way it turned out and the map looks awesome!! Thanks so much for linking up to Strut Your Stuff last weekend! We would LOVE to have you come back and link up more of your great projects tomorrow!
Camille @
SixSistersStuff.blogspot.com
this is great! i see these shelves at practically every thrift store and i could never have imagined something so practical could come of them. i LOVE maps (even though i'm horrible with reading them!)
Great projects!! Can you tell us how-to Mod Podge transfer an image! Thank you.
Karen
West Monroe, LA