DIY BOOKCASE MAKEOVER

I know you haven't heard from me lately, but life in our new parsonage has been very busy.  Not only did we have to unpack all our household items, but we've had so many projects going on.  Almost every room in the house is getting repainted. The living room is finally coming together; and I'll be sharing the room reveal soon!

 Here's a to do list for the room.

Did you happen to notice the bookshelf on the right side of the picture?
For several weeks after moving in, I wondered how to transform that space making a focal point in the room.  An idea came to me suddenly one day when a friend said she would use the recessed bookcase as a display area. I thought this was a great idea and added it my to do list.

DIY BOOKSHELF MAKEOVER

The first thing I did was remove the shelves from the bookcase.

I then added three battery operated lights to the top of the bookshelf.

If I owned this home I would have painted the inside of the space, but since we don't own the home.  I had to come up with another option.  I decided to buy quarter inch mdf board, and had my husband cut it to the measurements of the back of the book shelves.

Then I gave the board a good coat of primer, followed by paint.

I chose the same color as the walls in our master bedroom in the Washington Parsonage - Seascape by Valspar.  A piece of duct tape was added to the bottom of the board (making it easier to remove the board from the space).  I trimmed the tape shorter than you see in the photo.  This tape will be tucked neatly under a mirror so that it's not visible when looking at the display.

After the board had two coats of paint and was completely dry, it was ready to insert into the back of the bookcase.  My husband used his pin-nailer to tack the board to the back of the bookcase.  The holes from these pins won't even be visible when the board is removed and the shelving put back in.

Then came the fun of adding the decor.  I bought a mirror, vase and flowers using discount coupons.  The mirror was placed under the vase to add reflection of the vase.

 Here's the full view of the bookcase turned into a decorative display area.

 The lights at night add ambiances to the room, even though my photo doesn't show it very well.

This was a thrifty low cost makeover with a big impact.

Total cost of  $20!