Country to Classic Black Bookcase

Hello, friends.  Can I tell you a story?  A while ago, I bought a bookcase from the Goodwill wanting to make it a hutch for the kitchen.  I saw it there and immediately had all these great ideas for it.   I thought it would look great in white and stand perfectly fixed on a particular wall in the kitchen (the wall below).  It would  display dishes, vases;  you know, all that kind of stuff.  When I brought it home though, I realized it covered the only light switch in the kitchen.  Now I had the problem of what to do with it, but in this house, that didn't last long.  She has been renewed!

 She became this little beauty instead.

 She went from country to a classic black bookcase.  Mr Lewisville reminded me we could always use yet another bookcase and in all honesty, I love the way she looks here.  She had quite a transformation.

 The country bookcase is nice, but I like classic looks.  Since I couldn't use it here in my kitchen (pesky light switch is right behind there) I decided to paint it and replace the laughable bookcase that was presently taking up space in the living room- you'll see.

So here's the transformation process if you're looking to venture out and do the same for your home.  I took off all the hardware and placed  it all in a zip bag so I wouldn't  loose any of the pieces when I was ready to put it all back together.   If you need to, take a picture so you remember how the hardware screws in when your project is done.

 This is a laminate bookcase so I followed the same step from my post Can You Paint Laminate? Oh Yes!
I brushed on Zinsser primer which took forever.  If I had to do it all over again, I would spray primer this piece from the first coat.  Zinsser does make a great spray primer.

But here she is with her first coat of primer.  I didn't sand the piece at all by the way.  Just wiped the bookcase clean and brushed on the first coat.

 For the second coat of primer, I got smart and just spray painted grey primer.  So much easier and faster.

 I decided to use the same black paint I always use for projects.  I like Rust-Oleum black in semi gloss, mainly because you can get the exact color in the spray can.  I like spraypainting doors and legs for projects rather than using a brush, and there are so many shades of black, it's easy to mismatch.

The bookcase got two coats of this semi-gloss black.  By the way, I didn't have a paint tray liner, so I just used foil instead.  Works wonderfully.

By the way, I'll have a little post about different paint techniques I used on this project next week.  If you're not sure how to paint or what to use, or have questions, make sure you read this up coming post.

To give the bookcase a little pop, I decided to paint the back a different color.  I tried grey first, but it really didn't stand out.  I thought about using white, but that seemed to simple.  I decided to paint the back Grenadier Green which is the same color I used for this thrift store dresser. 

Pop. Pop. Pop.  I like it!

Mean while, I spray painted the doors.

And when everything was nice and dry, I started putting her back together- minus that bottom shelf.  My son thought this would be a perfect case to store his lego ships.  He really, really wanted it in his room.

 But this bookcase was meant (now) to replace the sorry bookcase we had in the living room next to hubby's chair.  It's a sorry bookcase I know, and it definitely needed to be replaced.

 But now the "sorry" bookcase might make a great lego shelf...????

 I wasn't sure about putting the doors back on because that green just looks so good.

 In the end, Mr. Lewisville likes the doors and they were put back on the case.

And we quickly filled it with his study books.

Big difference, don't you think?  We could use at least one more book case just like this, so I'll be on the look out now for another.  For now, we LOVE the results!

Blessings,

Lisa 

I link all my projects with some wonderful blogs.  To visit them, go to the {Link Party Love} page found at the top of this page on the {Home} bar.
Also linking to:
Between Naps on the Porch
Savvy Southern Style
No Minimalist Here
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Miss Mustard Seed
Funky Junk Interiors
Coastal Charm 

Common Ground 

 Home Stories A-Z

Fluster Buster