Bookshelf Redo

Being wayward and crafty, I wanted to take on a furniture redo, even though I really don't know what I'm doing. The best thing to do is to jump right in, right?

When Jasmine was visiting, we went yardsaling. But most people around here are either poor college students or of the use it up/wear it out (or give it a fab makeover!!) mindset, so there's slim pickens and intense competition for what's out there. So technically I found this at a thrift store. It's 3'x2' and it was $10.

The sides were painted and glazed, and the molding . . . not my style. (Plus it wasn't very secure--definitely should have been glued better!) Plus the pegboard back was . . . yeah.

The first thing to go was the molding. Then the paint needed to be redone. I started with spray paint on the shelves but I need more practice, apparently:

My DH pointed out that we do have extra white paint sitting around, so I grabbed it and the rollers and brush, and two coats later, everything was great.

But I didn't dare paint the pegboard. I'd originally planned an intense remake for it, but I had a better (less expensive, less labor intensive, and sure to work) idea: fabric. (Even though picking cute fabric is harder than it looks!)

I planned to fold the edges of the fabric under for clean lines without visible hems or seams (or sewing), but that would leave a double (or quadruple, really) layer in the corners. So I folded the edges together and cut at an angle like this:

To make a corner like this:

Then when you fold the edges, the extra fabric overlaps much less. I still wanted it to overlap a little because I didn't want an unfinished edge sticking out in the corner.

To glue it down, with the shelf laying flat, I wiped the pegboard with a wet rag. Then I drizzled (or plopped, depending on how hard I squeezed) a good amount of Tacky Glue on the pegboard, trying not to get too close to the edges. I used the rag to help spread it around more. Then I carefully spread the fabric out, trying to get it straight and get the bubbles out.

Once the middle is set, I worked around each edge to run a bead of glue and fold the fabric to fit inside the sides.

And voila!

I might add some yellow details on the fabric, too, with some yellow acrylic I have sitting around.

I had to buy the Tacky Glue, but that's kind of an investment, right? And since the spray paint
didn't work out
I'll save for another project, the cost is essentially $14 for the shelf and fabric. Not too bad!

Now I just have to figure out where to put it . . .

Update: I wasn't satisfied with the edge after all, so I'm going to add a ribbon to cover the edge and make the blue details in the fabric pop:

What do you think? What new kind of project do you want to take on? Or, if you don't have anything to say about that, wish my youngest a happy birthday. She turned one yesterday!