7.16.2012

F.R.E.E. Up-Cycled Bathroom Shelf

I'm excited to share another uber cheap DIY project with you today that was done about.....ohhhh a month or so ago.  It's so easy and most importantly it turned out really pretty!  I'm proud of my little freebie!!

Here's what she looked like when I "stumbled" upon her:
Recently, while on a walk with my Boston, I noticed a brown shelf that was sitting on the curb in front of a house that they were clearly throwing away (I did that whole stalking-of-our-neighbors-curbs again....remember when I picked up these chairs).  So, I inspected it for sturdiness (pushed it around, picked it up and inspected the back) and it passed my test.   So I called the hubby at work and told him to pick it up on his way home.  ha.  Yeah, I let him look like the weirdo picking up things off the curb.   Luckily he doesn't mind.  He gets the "happy wife = happy life" motto.  

Once I got her in my hands backyard, I got to work sanding her down.
I love using my sander on anything and everything.  She's my hot fudge to my sundae.  She makes things so much easier.  For the longest time I was using a 3M sanding block.  But not no mo!  

When sanding, you just want to make sure that your shelf is smooth.  Any bumps (like old paint that's peeling off) will show through the paint.  Once it's smooth, be sure to wife it down with a wet rag really good.  You wouldn't want any sanding dust showing through your paint, either.  
Next up....paint.  I dug through my bins in the garage that are full of paint cans and had this sample left over from our living room re-paint job.  I love this color.  It's not too gray and it's not too white.  It's just right.  
 
We painted with our trusty ol' Purty paint brushes.  When buying paint brushes, go with the gold.  Meaning, buy the good ones.  The ones that cost.  Not the cheap ones.  You definitely get what you pay for when it comes to paint brushes.  Plus, they last a long time if you clean them correctly.

We didn't paint the backing of the shelf since it would be covered up anyway.
After 2 coats of paint and after letting it dry for an hour.  Jer pulled the backing off with his leatherman.
He had a little help from our John Deere master, too.
Help with climbing through the shelf making sure it was sturdy and making sure the paint was dry.
Then I got to work touching up the bottom (a few spots I missed).
Hopefully this guy will grow up to be a handy man like his daddy and DIY'er by watching us.  His new favorite "toy" is Jer's hammer.  Ha.  Don't worry, we pay close attention to him when he has it.  He mainly just carries it around.  :)
Jer found a scrap piece of wood for extra support.
We covered the backing with fabric, hot glued it down and then nailed the backing back on.  If you use fabric that has a design on it, make sure your fabric isn't crooked or tilted.  You want your design to be straight.  Luckily, ours was in one try.
RECAP:
We chose to hang it in our master bathroom "toilet room" which desperately needed some shelving for some necessities/decor.  It was just waaayy too bare.
For extra support, my husband decided that it'd be best if we used a piece of lumber underneath it as reinforcement (even though we hung it on the studs).  So he screwed those in and I painted it the same color as the shelf.
And here's our new beauty hanging pretty with all her fixin's!  I'm so excited about how she turned out.  I love the colors of the paint (I used a paint that I already had called Alpaca from Sherwin Williams) and fabric together.

I hope you liked this project and you too will keep an eye out for trash on your neighbors curbs and turn something into a pretty/useable treasure!!  



18 comments:

Stephanie Hartman said...

This shelf was such and awesome project.. I Love picking stuff up from the curb.. I'm like a lion when it comes to good stuff that just need to be fixed I stalk it until late at night then I pull the car around run out and throw it in the car haha.. It's so embarrassing having the owners step outside and see people going through there trash of chairs,shelves,picture frames things like that..LOL..

Meghan @ More from Meg said...

WOW!!!! This looks soooo great!!!! I wish I could see things and then picture how I could re-use them!! You are so crafty!

Unknown said...

Found your blog via the hello cotton blog hop! You are too cute and have an adorable family. I'm your newest follower. I would love it if you stopped by my blog =)

Sarah @ Our Family of Three
www.woodsfamilyofthree.blogspot.com

Chrissi Holt said...

What a great job you did :) I love it when projects come together as nicely as this ...

Chrissi

www.christianaholt.blogspot.com

Lisamarie said...

I love this project! Thanks for the step-by-step. And I never would have thought about adding a piece of wood to the wall before hanging the shelves. Makes perfect sense, though! Its gorgeous!

Veronica Lee Burns said...

super great find! Love the outcome!

Unknown said...

it looks amazing now! love that fabric!

come say hi at nichollvincent.blogspot.com

have a great day!

Marissa said...

OH MY GOSH! Jennifer this is amazing. It makes me want to go scour some yard sales! And I have the same bird from Michaels' - what a great job you did!! Love it.

XOXO
Marissa

Unknown said...

It's beautiful!! I wish I could have a vision for old furniture like that...there are some really cool things out there :D

Julie said...

You did a great job on this shelf! I am following you via GFC from the blog hop. I'd love for you to hop on over to my blog and follow back. http://www.jamscorner.com/2012/07/100-followers-giveaway.html

Have a fabulous day!

Julie

Unknown said...

Hello, I am your newest follower over from the blog hop. This shelf turned out so well and your post is awesome, great pics etc... I do most of my projects w at least one baby in the middle so I liked that pic!

Ang said...

WOW THIS IS SUPER CUTE AND YOUR ARE SO HANDY!

Dara @ Not In Jersey said...

I love it! we turned a shelf into a doll clothes closet for my daughter. I've found that you can make lots of old things look good with some paint!

Katie said...

that looks SOOO good!! I love how it turned out! LOVE the fabric in the back too!

Katie said...

that looks SOOO good!! I love how it turned out! LOVE the fabric in the back too!

Amy said...

This is sooo cute, and such a great idea! Thanks for sharing!

Ashley@The Vanilla Tulip said...

AMAZING!!!! You're my kind of girl:) I think that 80 percent of our furniture came from somebody's trash pile haha!
So excited to have you linking up this week!

Bekka said...

I LOVEEEE this idea!!!! and what a perfect spot to place it! :)

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