I haven't posted in a while but that doesn't mean I haven't been working on any projects. On the contrary, I have been working on several different projects and finally have one to share.
When I first moved into my house, I needed bookcases but having just bought a house, I also needed to be thrifty when it came to my furniture. I ended up purchasing 3 of the cheap laminate bookcases made of pressed wood with the thick cardboard backing that's made to look like wood. Here's a before picture:
I have wanted to replace these bookcases for almost as long as I have owned them but every time I thought of doing so, I couldn't just stomach the price tag.
Finally, with the cardboard backing falling off AGAIN and the entire structure swaying back and forth if you touched one side or another, I decided to take action. I purchased some trim pieces and some Rust-Oleum Chalked Spray Paint in Tidal Pond from the hardware store, went home, and broke out the tools to refinish one of these bad boys.
Since this was a bit of an experiment for me, I decided to tackle only one bookcase for starters and now that it's complete, it's like having a brand new piece of furniture!
The first thing I did was prep the surface of the laminate by lightly sanding it with my hand sander. I did this just enough to dull the finish but not enough to strip it off entirely. If you try this yourself, please be forewarned not to stay in one place for very long as you are sanding.
After sanding, I added extra wood strips to the sides to give the bookcase a bit more character and some trim pieces on the front to make it look more finished.
Once all of the pieces were added, I started applying the paint. The spray paint can stated only one coat was needed, but when it was all said and done, I applied a total of 3 coats to get a good, uniform finish.
Once painted, I let it dry and cure for about 3 days before I applied a layer of Johnson's Paste Wax over the entire surface which gave the finish a more rich look.
For my next steps, I cut a piece of plywood left over from doing my kitchen floor underlayment to fit on the back of the bookcase and used extra strength spray adhesive to attach two old, over-sized maps from a local salvage store to the surface of the plywood.
The spray adhesive seemed to work fine and it was what was recommended to me, but it wasn't quite as strong as I expected. I had to spray the edges multiple times to make them completely stick to the plywood backer, and the final product has some areas that didn't stick down completely despite my attempts to smooth out all of the air bubbles. In the future, I might try Mod Podge or wallpaper adhesive instead. Despite these technicalities, once the adhesive was dry, I nailed the new backing onto the back of the bookcase.
Once the back was attached, the sliver of raw wood from the plywood edge bothered me...
...So as a final touch, I painted some strips of L trim and added them to the back corners in order to cover the edge of the plywood backer that was visible. I thought this made the piece look much more finished.
And here are the after pictures:
I have 2 more bookcases waiting to be refinished. I haven't decided whether I want to use the same paint and/or paint color but my plan is to attach the remaining 2 bookcases to each other along the sides to make one wide bookcase. I may even add a barn-door style slider to the front, based on a bookcase that I saw in a high-end furniture shop in Indianapolis a couple of years ago.
For the other 2 bookcases, I might use mineral paint instead of chalk paint because mineral paint doesn't require a coat of paste/finishing wax, which is fairly stinky stuff. There IS something satisfying about buffing the final coat of paste wax onto the project though.
Have you ever used chalk paint or mineral paint to redo a piece of furniture? Do you have a preference between the two? I would love to hear about your experiences with either type of paint!
When I first moved into my house, I needed bookcases but having just bought a house, I also needed to be thrifty when it came to my furniture. I ended up purchasing 3 of the cheap laminate bookcases made of pressed wood with the thick cardboard backing that's made to look like wood. Here's a before picture:
I have wanted to replace these bookcases for almost as long as I have owned them but every time I thought of doing so, I couldn't just stomach the price tag.
Finally, with the cardboard backing falling off AGAIN and the entire structure swaying back and forth if you touched one side or another, I decided to take action. I purchased some trim pieces and some Rust-Oleum Chalked Spray Paint in Tidal Pond from the hardware store, went home, and broke out the tools to refinish one of these bad boys.
Since this was a bit of an experiment for me, I decided to tackle only one bookcase for starters and now that it's complete, it's like having a brand new piece of furniture!
The first thing I did was prep the surface of the laminate by lightly sanding it with my hand sander. I did this just enough to dull the finish but not enough to strip it off entirely. If you try this yourself, please be forewarned not to stay in one place for very long as you are sanding.
After sanding, I added extra wood strips to the sides to give the bookcase a bit more character and some trim pieces on the front to make it look more finished.
Once all of the pieces were added, I started applying the paint. The spray paint can stated only one coat was needed, but when it was all said and done, I applied a total of 3 coats to get a good, uniform finish.
Once painted, I let it dry and cure for about 3 days before I applied a layer of Johnson's Paste Wax over the entire surface which gave the finish a more rich look.
For my next steps, I cut a piece of plywood left over from doing my kitchen floor underlayment to fit on the back of the bookcase and used extra strength spray adhesive to attach two old, over-sized maps from a local salvage store to the surface of the plywood.
The spray adhesive seemed to work fine and it was what was recommended to me, but it wasn't quite as strong as I expected. I had to spray the edges multiple times to make them completely stick to the plywood backer, and the final product has some areas that didn't stick down completely despite my attempts to smooth out all of the air bubbles. In the future, I might try Mod Podge or wallpaper adhesive instead. Despite these technicalities, once the adhesive was dry, I nailed the new backing onto the back of the bookcase.
Once the back was attached, the sliver of raw wood from the plywood edge bothered me...
...So as a final touch, I painted some strips of L trim and added them to the back corners in order to cover the edge of the plywood backer that was visible. I thought this made the piece look much more finished.
And here are the after pictures:
I have 2 more bookcases waiting to be refinished. I haven't decided whether I want to use the same paint and/or paint color but my plan is to attach the remaining 2 bookcases to each other along the sides to make one wide bookcase. I may even add a barn-door style slider to the front, based on a bookcase that I saw in a high-end furniture shop in Indianapolis a couple of years ago.
For the other 2 bookcases, I might use mineral paint instead of chalk paint because mineral paint doesn't require a coat of paste/finishing wax, which is fairly stinky stuff. There IS something satisfying about buffing the final coat of paste wax onto the project though.
Have you ever used chalk paint or mineral paint to redo a piece of furniture? Do you have a preference between the two? I would love to hear about your experiences with either type of paint!
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