Kid's Bookshelf Upcycle

If you didn't already know this about me, I like to read... Like, a lot. 

John didn't know this about me until the summer after we were married because I try not to read books recreationally during the school year. It's too distracting when I already have textbooks to read and assignments to do. 

Now that I'm a stay at home mom, I have tons of free time!! Haha! Just kidding. 

But seriously, whenever I have a nursing baby, I have to sit down to feed him every so many hours which gives me time to... you guessed it! Read.

And although this sounds like the start to a 2022 book recommendation post, it's not. 

I only bring my love for books up because it seems to be something I have passed down to my kids. Or at least to their rooms... 

With four kids now, one small bookshelf for kids books was not enough! So we upcycled an old one!

After looking for a good deal on a bookshelf for a while, I finally found one at Deseret Industries! The only catch? It was lime green.

But with a little paint, stain, and mod podge, we fixed all that!

The first thing I did was sand the top of the bookshelf. This took much longer and was harder than I expected it to be, so I stopped sanding after the top was done and decided to use a primer for the rest of the bookshelf. After wiping down the top, I stained that part with an Oak stain.

After painting the bookshelf with primer and letting it dry, I painted two coats of white paint on the bookshelf. 

Around this time, the kids were looking for ways to earn some extra money and I told them I would give them $5 if they helped me paint the bookshelf. After a few minutes I almost paid them $5 to stop painting the bookshelf! But I held strong and figured I'd try to hide their scuff marks and inconsistent textures with the next coat.

Once the white was all done, we mod podged some dollar store wrapping paper on the inside. I wanted the flamingoes but Brooke wanted the blue princess paper, so we compromised and did one shelf of each. The paper was a bit wrinkly and too thin to smooth out when it was wet with the mod podge. In the end, it turned out ok but I think a thicker wrapping paper would have been easier to work with.

And now that our second bookshelf is finally done, our house can look a little nicer and less like it belongs on a show about hoarders. Or at least that corner can, anyway. Haha!

*Quick side note. This bookshelf was done a number of months ago and has been holding up great!*