Cheap bookcase makeover; cheap because it was a cheap bookcase, and cheap because all it really cost was 2 cans of spray paint.

I started with an old bookcase that we had bought for the kids when they were little, it made it's way from room to room depending on who needed it.  It's not real wood, just sawdust glued together and covered in paper that looks like wood grain.  Eventually it made it's way to storage when nobody needed it anymore.

I saw on the internet, likely Pinterest :) that people have made over these bookcases to be display shelves of a different configuration.  The shelves were not evenly spaced, and I'm a nut for symmetry, plus the bottom has a little trim that wouldn't make sense when turned on it's side, so I took out all the shelves and replaced them properly (properly according to me, of course).  I used 2 cans of spray paint, and then finally gave up and rolled a coat of black on it.  It just kept sucking in the paint, but I couldn't get good coverage.  Rolling on a coat did the trick, I used paint that was left over from painting an exterior door.

I wasn't sure what I was going to use for feet, but then remembered that when we got our new ottoman it was too tall for our couches, so we left the feet off.  Voila, perfect feet for my new unit.

Looking pretty good eh!

One of my BFF's (it is actually my BFF's little sister), I do love my power tools, ha ha.  I thought I had a problem, I managed to get the bookcase down a flight of stairs from my workshop (slid it on an old comforter, luckily it didn't get away on me, because I was below it), across the driveway and up a hill to the back of the house (trusty wheelbarrow, as there wasn't a truck to be seen, even though 2 of them live in my driveway), and dragged it across half the house (the beauty of a good throw mat), and then flipped it over until it was situated in the right place. I realized that I was going to need an air hose to reach all the way from the garage through the basement, up the stairs and across to the patio in order to use my BFF.  With my shoulders already protesting from what I had done, I was a little forlorn.  I thought I might as well see how close I could get the air hose, luckily years ago I had bought an extra hose just for such reasons, thinking the men might need it (that was before I learned how to use a nail gun and it became my BFF).  I came within a foot or two of  where I needed it.  Yay, so much better than having to drag that bookcase back down to the garage.

I had previously cut the shelves to size from old scraps of plywood and stapled fabric on them to give them a little pizzaz.   Such an easy way of finishing them, no painting, no sanding.

I had cut and painted pieces of trim to use as shelf supports, then used my BFF to nail them into place, using a level to make sure eveything was done properly (well, properly according to MacGIRLver anyway, properly according to Manuel is a whole other story)

I gathered together some things that were laying around the patio and a few other places and loaded up the shelves.

Of course there is always some tweeking to do, but as a rule I do something to about 98% and call it a day, drives Manuel nuts!  I will get back to those little tweeks some day, ha ha. 

So, what do you think?

Before and After