Family Room Makeover, Part 3, Decorating and Organizing the Bookcase

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Painting the bookcases did not take a inordinate amount of time.  I took a little short-cut and left the shelf holders in place simply painting around them.  The challenge with these shelves was making them look nice as they need to be functional (housing items used in the family room) holding toys and ugly books (the nice books are in the library!)

Based on pictures I had seen online and in magazines, I decided that I wanted most of the decorative elements on the shelves to be white to create a nice, crisp contrast with the navy background.  So, in my usual fashion, I grabbed a few cans of gloss white Krylon spray paint and spray-painted a random mix of picture frames and items with "good lines".

On a DIY blog, I had seen someone spray paint cheap "coral" from the fish section of the pet store.  I wish I could remember where I had seen the post so I could give due credit. 

Decorative Coral from Pottery Barn

Supplies for my DIY coral

The coral was under $4 and is plastic instead of ceramic.  This is a good thing if you have a four-year-old--believe me.  One can of spray paint was under $3, and I certainly didn't use it all.

Finally, I covered a bunch of books and photo albums with a mix of wrapping paper and packaging paper (white and brown).  I forgot to take pictures of this project, but you can find tutorials for "how to make a book cover" online.

After being involved in a conversation at a child's birthday party today where the topic of conversation was how blogs are staged and give the illusion of domestic perfection and tranquility, I decided to add the following image.  The bookcase and family room is not always neatly assembled; we  use this room every day.  Here is a pick behind the sofa at the bottom shelves of the bookcase:

 


BEFORE

AFTER

I spray painted vases, book ends, coral, frames, made covers for all of the books, used my mother's childhood globe and a hammered brass beverage holder that my mother-in-law was throwing away to decorate.  Also, I took two of my mother's discarded watercolor paintings, which I think are great, and matted and framed them.  (You can see them on the second shelf from the top.)  I may go back and spray paint that brown box white...

Total cost of Family Room Makeover:

$35    paint

$87    window treatments

$ 4     plastic coral

$10    3 cans of white spray paint

$8      2 rolls of wrapping paper from Target

$10    packaging paper (white and brown) from Ben Franklin

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$154  total spent

The next installation of the makeover will be accessories.

Thanks for reading!

Carson