Past Project - Bookcase and Wallpaper

In late 2009, I seriously thought about putting this blog together and started prepping some posts with things I was doing around the house. I found them recently, buried in my documents folder, and thought I would share. I don't have enough of them to make this a regular posting theme, but they'll pop up every now and again! Welcome to past crafts..... 


A few years ago, between my divorce and my manfriend moving in, I rented out one of the spare rooms in my house to make ends meet. It worked out pretty well. She seemed tidy and was pretty considerate. I liked her. But like most things, our time together came to an end. And she left a wide variety of oddities when she moved out. The least of which include:

An unopened bag of defrosted frozen corn under her bed.
A mouse carcass in her closet.
All her pots, pan, dishes and cups.
A brand new stainless steel spice rack - spices included!
A box of mismatched shoes.
A bookcase.

Everything except the bookcase and kitchen supplies was very swiftly disposed of and her room fumigated.  The pots, pans, dishes and cups went to a new home with my good friend Adam. The spice rack still lives on my kitchen counter. The bookcase was given new life over the course of a weekend!!

She said she took it from her father's office and painted it black. My mother had dreams of re-mixing it as a buffet for my dining room (which sounds like a fabulous 'lesson learned from Trading Spaces') but I disagreed. It would always look like a sideways bookshelf to me. So for a few months, it just sat in the dinning room unused and unloved. But I  resurrected it's usefulness and put it in my work in progress art studio!!

Because I am a freak and never get rid of anything, turns out I had about a roll of wallpaper leftover from  my last office incarnation (FYI it did not go on the walls). So with things I had wasting space in my home, I made something beautiful!!

Please see supplies: straight edge and exacto knife (for cutting paper), tape measure, wall paper paste, wallpaper and (not seen) book shelf. 

If you can, start by removing the shelves, it makes the rest much easier!!

Measure pieces of paper so that it will fit into the back panel of the bookshelf and cut with the knife using the straight edge as a guide.

One at a time, coat the back of your wallpaper pieces with the wallpaper paste then line up with an edge of the back panel of the bookcase. Make sure to smooth out and bubbles before moving onto the next piece. Only 2 of the shelves in the piece are removable, so I had to cut three pieces of paper. 

Place your shelves back in and style as per usual! TA-FREAKIN-DA!! 


Here it is in a better quality photo in my still re-working art studio. I still love it!!