Bookcase Before & After

I was hell-bent on never painting my bookcases. The natural wood gave me instant satisfaction. Well, at least it did when I saw them in the local thrift store. As the story was told while making my purchase, the original owner handmade each bookshelf (total of 4) for his garage. The creepy cobwebs, bug carcasses and massive clumps of dust made the story believable. I didn’t care, I had a vision and couldn’t wait to bring these bookshelves to life. I spent hours scrubbing the shelves and rubbing them down in wood oil. Fast forward, a few short months later and something seemed off. For one, I had excessively crowded each shelf. For second, I wasn’t sure if I wanted them in my dining room (hence the dinner plates) or living room. I moved those bookshelves over a thousand times until it hit me; I needed to paint them-BLACK.

I spent nearly a month after work meticulously priming and painting each nook and cranny. I decided a black spray paint with primer was the easiest approach. Afterwards, I painted over the bookshelves in Krylon Colormaxx Satin Black. I allowed 2-3 days to dry and applied a second coat or more, if needed. I wanted the finished results to be rich. It was a labor of love, but love the end results!