forever88: DIY Nursery Bookcase!

so we were going to go out and buy a bright colored bookcase for baby j's nursery but then DJ's parents had an old one they were going to give to goodwill/recycle - so we decided to fix their old one up instead as a fun weekend project! I love the way it turned out and as promised, here are the DIY instructions for "up-cycling" an old bookcase for a nursery - or any type of room with different color paint and patterned paper.

Supplies Needed:

Sandpaper
Primer
Paint
Paint brush(es)
Mod Podge
Scrapbook paper
Paper cutter [not necessary but makes cutting squares out easier if you want to tile paper]

Step 1: Sand down the bookcase and shelves

Step 2: Spray down with primer - the Kilz kind the Home Depot man recommended was awesome, though it's definitely some strong stuff so if you're preggo and asthmatic like I am - you should probably have a special helper do it for you [thanks DJ]. Let the Kilz dry for an hour before moving on to Step 3.

Step 3: Paint the bookcase and shelves. Pretty self explanatory. :)

Step 4: While the paint dries, prep your scrapbook paper. We measured the bookcase interior and realized that four inch squares would fit best across the width of the bookcase. I got the papercutter out and cut our 12x12 scrapbook paper out into 4x4 squares. Clearly, you could do this by hand - or use the larger squares, a large sheet of fabric, or just paint a different color. Personally, I loved the tiled look that the smaller squares created.

Step 5: Mod Podge the back of the bookcase and the back of the paper, then cover the paper with mod podge [due to sticky fingers and lack of special helpers I did not get any pictures of this part of the process, oops].

Step 6: Put one more coat of mod podge over the paper and make sure that all pieces of paper are smoothed out. Let dry completely before putting shelves back in.

Step 7: Put the shelves back in and enjoy! We had to sand-down the shelves and touch-up a few spots after putting the shelves back in due to them being an "exact fit" before. Just be prepared to do this too!