Finished Bookcase

After I painted and sanded this bookcase, it still looked a little dark. Definitely darker than the newly refinished desk that's sitting on the other side of the fireplace. I was nervous and unsure if I LOVED it....tear :( Then a friend suggested I put some backing on the bookcase to brighten it up and give it some dimension. After some searching on PINTEREST I had a plan. I found some great wrapping paper at Hobby Lobby (cheap with a 40% off coupon), cut it to size and attached with spray adhesive. It was simple & quick and I do LOVE how it turned out. It changed the look of the bookcase entirely. I was so excited to get my books and other things on the shelves. A picture of dear President Monson and a cute basket for baby toys on the bottom shelf were the final touches. Everything else I had in my house. I'm super excited about how it turned out. I'm also geared up to complete more waiting projects, because these last two were so much fun.

L.O.V.E me some color

Here is what I started with......a stripped down simple desk. I got it from one of my dearest friends, Nikki Sobotka, years ago. It looked like this when she gave it to me. I kinda loved it the way it was but knew one day I would get around to refinishing it.
I've never loved the color blue but with some inspirational pieces fell in love with a blueish/greenish color that I later found a name for "sea sage" Its very subtle and quiet and I'm hoping by introducing some blue hues into my life (and my decor) I will reap the benefits of some tranquility....unless that's a myth in which case my home will just now have some splashes of blue for cuteness!
Oh I LOVE how it turned out. It looks a bit gray in the picture above but you're welcome to come by and see it in person. Love it! I have a great story behind the paint, by the way, if you're not interested just skip to the pictures but with an intro like that how could you resist finding out what happened????
....so, I went to Lowes with a block of wood. The block is the "M" from my F.A.M.I.L.Y. blocks that sit at my fireplace. It's the color I decided to go for for these two pieces. Right away I found a matching paint swatch - sea sage - and went to price out the paint, which has gotten so expensive (along with everything else in life). I walked passed the mis-tints....the paint that was mixed wrong or returned or what-not. Hmmmm, one of the colors looked similar. But up close looked a little minty. Oh gosh could you imagine, my first venture into color on my beautiful furniture pieces and it turns out an ugly toothpasty mint.....EEEEEEEEKKK!
Anyway to cut the story short, the girl at the paint counter offered to try to darken it up by adding some color. After 30 minutes or so we had a final color and a perfect compliment to my block. When I was leaving the paint counter, the girls said, "oh by the way all the mistints are 50% off on weekends." I got a gallon of Valspar for $2.50 wooohooo!!!
I enjoy doing these pieces so much but it seems to take me so long to getting around to them.
This tall white bookcase, that also came from Nikki, is next. I can hardly wait...I'm only holding back today because its Sunday and despite my rationalization I felt it could wait until tomorrow.