Sage Green and Natural Wood Bookshelf Makeover

Sage Green and Natural Wood Bookshelf Makeover

Welcome back, today I bring you another trash rescue.  An old, solid wood, bookshelf that was discarded before it’s time.

The bookcase showed some wear on the top.  The white line was just a surface paint line, the end scratches barely dented the surface. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed.

The back of the bookshelf was a nice shade of water stained plywood.

 

Now for the makeover.  For the top, I wanted to keep the natural wood. I often use a natural wood top, most of the time with an added wood stain,  even if I end up painting the rest of the piece.  I don’t like how paint chips or gets stains, then it’s really hard to match the original color or finish.

Out came my orbital sander.  For this project I’m using 80 grit sandpaper which removes the old finish without leaving gouges in the wood.  You can go to a finer grit but don’t go coarser.

The legs I’m using to update the piece are these 12 ”  ash furniture legs from Amazon (the link I’ve provided is for 8 “, no reason you need to use 12″ too).  I bought these at an Amazon return store for only $2 but they are about 6” too long.

A chop saw will cut these down to size.  I can even use the other half for another project.

In order to use the new legs I needed to chop off the existing little nubby legs.  A jigsaw or  circular saw  should do the trick.  Sand down those newly cut rough edges.

Paint your bookcase your color  of choice. This color is sage green from Chalk It!  I did have to use 2 coats to cover all the old dark wood.

On the back of the bookcase I’m using  a 12″ bamboo wall panel, also from the Amazon return store, also $2.

The bamboo comes in a roll. Lay it in the back of your bookcase and cut to fit.

When the bamboo is cut to the proper size, glue in place with a nice squiggle of builders adhesive.

Press firmly in place.  You may need to put something heavy over top of the bamboo and leave to dry.

On the bottom shelf, the bamboo was an inch too short.  I just added an additional horizontal wood piece to match the existing one on the top shelf.

The top was finished with a light wash of tan paint.

Water down  beige/sand/tan paint and paint it on in the direction of the wood grain.

While the paint is still wet, rub off any excess to allow the wood grain to show thru.

Once the tan wash was dry , the top was finished with a coat of clear wax.   Paint on the wax and wipe off the excess.

If you would like a lighter finish, you could also use a white wax.

This is the underneath side of the bookshelf.

I screwed on a 2×4 to bring the level of the shelves even with the bookshelf sides, then added  brackets to hold the legs.

Screw on the legs.

I also added an extra 3/4″ border around the base of the bookshelf to bring in a little more of the natural wood color.  If that border looks a lot like a piece of oak flooring, that’s because it is.  I used  finish nails to attach and more clear wax to seal.  The cut side of the oak flooring is a lighter wood.

This is the back of the bottom shelf where the bamboo was too short.

I loaded up my bookcase to show how it could look in a child’s room.

Then I threw my photo over to ChatGPT to see what it could do with my cute little loaded bookshelf.  OK, I can’t compete, AI made my bookshelf look good.

Until next time, stay inspired.

 

When I showed my bookshelf to my daughter in law, Steph, she told me that the color and style reminded her of a line of furniture from Crate & Barrel.  The bookshelf  above, is  currently selling for $674.25.  Mine was about $4. 😆