shelf upgrade

I talked a bit about this eyesore in my homegoals

It isn't awful but it certainly isn't anything special.  We need a piece of furniture for this space.  A buffet would be nice but it has to be open on the bottom because there is an air vent behind.  We'd ideally like to find something second hand and give it a makeover.  This takes time as you know!  In the meantime I wanted to do something to improve the look of this rinky dink folding bookshelf that has been in three apartments and finally got a "distressed" paint job and was tossed in this corner of the dining room months ago.  I've seen "mantles" for folding bookshelves.

home decorators

The mantles help to fancy these bookshelves up a bit.  I figured we could make our own.  So, I went to Home depot and got a piece of wood cut to 28"x12" to fit the top.  I brought it home and put it on top to make sure it would work. 

Yup, that will do!  I also picked up a little trim to dress it up.

We just cut the trim to size for the front and sides of the top piece and tacked it on.  I caulked around the trim a little to clean it up and painted the whole thing white.

I put another coat of paint on the shelf.  Then I ran a line of wood glue around the top.

 Then I stuck the top on and waited for it to dry.  Someone had a good time with all the books on the floor in the meantime.

And then....

Some more shots...

A much better look I think.  It will do the job and look a little more snazzy until we find something else.  Not bad for a $7.00 piece of wood and $2.00 worth of trim right?

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