My Country Shelf Makeover

This past weekend I started a new project and actually finished it! That’s a huge accomplishment in my book. My hubby and I have a house full of unfinished projects. It was kind of a spur of the moment project but still, did you catch the part where I finished it? I decided to give my country shelf a makeover. And the best part is that I already had everything I needed so the whole makeover didn’t cost a dime.

Updating a tired country shelf with paint

This shelf came from my mom’s house after she passed away. I don’t even think she ever hung it up. Neither of my sisters wanted it so I took it knowing I had a few bare walls in my home. As much as I love the fact that it came from my mom’s house I wasn’t a huge fan of the cutesy country look. I knew I wanted to give it a makeover down the road. Even so, I had my husband hang it up in the living room.

As much as I loved having a shelf to decorate and hang stuff from I tried to think of ways to change the cuteness of it. It bugged me but I didn’t have a clue what to do so I left it alone. Well, a couple of weeks ago I cleaned up a vintage toolbox that my dad and hubby pulled out of my grandpa’s garage. I knew I wanted to hang it up and we decided to hang it where my mom’s shelf was.

Once the toolbox was hung (which I love!) I had to figure out what to do with the shelf since it was now taking up space in my bedroom. My plan was to cut or knock the back out and replace it with a plain board, then add vintage hooks. My hubs shot that idea down because he didn’t think it was going to work. On to plan two. I only came up with this idea a couple of minutes before I started painting. I’m glad I went with it because it was super easy!

Getting rid of country cute

I used a precut wooden circle you’d find at a craft store. You know the little thin wood shapes you can paint or decorate? I used one of those. I took some glue (you can read about my favorite glue here) and ran a bead along the outer edge of the circle then layed it over the heart cutout. It didn’t completely cover the heart but it was close enough and I figured paint would fill in the gaps.

I didn’t do much to prepare the shelf, I just ran a tack cloth over it to pick up any dust or cat fur. We had a bucket of Duramax® paint by Valspar® leftover from another project so I used that to paint it. The only other items I used were a basic paintbrush and a sanding block my hubby had on hand.

Painting went smooth and easy. I applied one coat, waited until it dried then sanded the whole shelf. After that, I wiped it down with the tack cloth again. Then I applied another coat of paint. I sanded a couple spots, wiped them down and applied one last coat.

When the shelf was completely dry I took the sanding block over the shelf one more time. This time I focused on the edges. I didn’t want to distress it too much, just lightly so the wood would show through where natural wear would occur.

After a final wipe down with the tack cloth the shelf was ready to hang. So, so easy and quick! Here’s how the finished project looks now.

So now that you’ve seen how easy it is to give a shelf or even furniture a makeover with something as simple as paint are you ready to give it a try?