Throwing in the Towel, Taking Losses and Going Shopping

That's it!  I am throwing in the towel on this darn bookcase!  I have worked it and worked it and worked it and I just don't like it.  In fact, I believe that I have developed a hatred for it!  You ask, "How can someone actually hate a piece of furniture?!"  Well......I do, I hate this bookcase.  Maybe hate is a strong word, but I have grown to serious dislike it and I want it out of my master bedroom!! 

Why all the angst?  Well.....let me start from the beginning.  I have this bookcase in my master bedroom.  We purchased this bookcase during our one year in Atlanta.  It was part of a pair that sat in my hubby's home office.  In other words.....he picked them out.  I didn't care what he put in that office. He actually did do a pretty good job furnishing it.  The problem is.....we haven't had a home office since then, which was 9 years ago, and I haven't really wanted to keep these dust collectors.  Somewhere along the way, I was able to download one of them to a place I can't remember.  I thought that I could like this bookcase, if I got a little paint out, maybe some fabric or decorative paper.  Well, guess who ended up wrong?

This is how I started the project.  I thought that I would lighten up the darkness with some paint, but decided to try and maintain the shelves in the original finish.  After all, they are in great condition. Wearing a mask, I dragged the thing all by myself onto the back upper patio and removed the books and dust. 

I taped off the shelves, which is no easy feat.  I painstakingly made sure that no paint would get on the shelves.

I then primed, and painted it with two coats of Sherwin Williams Creamy. 

Looking back, I probably should have stopped here and painted the shelves too....but, I didn't.  I added details to the fluted front panels and moldings. 

I know that this look garish, but I knew that I was going to wash over this with stain and the intensity of the color and glare of the gold would be toned down.  I waited several days for the paint to cure, having to drag the bookcase back inside and out repeatedly to avoid rain.  I strained an old muscle injury near my rib cage doing this.....Have I told you that I don't like this bookshelf?  At some point, I antiqued the entire bookcase with Min Wax Dark Walnut stain. 

Top detail.



Bottom detail w/dark shelf.

This turned the overall bookcase into a warm creme color.  I didn't finish the inside back of the shelf because I didn't know whether I would use a decorative paper or fabric.  I searched and searched and searched for fabric and papers. I bought a few things, only to bring them home and think to myself, "Nope this isn't the answer."  I also spent two entire days looking for alternative ideas, like shutters as doors or decorative ironwork, even considering making fabric curtains for the bottom half of the shelves.   Let me make this clear.....I have spent way too much time on this project.  The hours wasted in vane are seriously ridiculous and I am just admitting to it.   This project has robbed time away from other projects and has impeded my ability at times to blog post!  

I have been living with the empty bookcase in my bedroom now for a few weeks.  I just have not been satisfied with the work I have done.  It doesn't work in the room at all.  I look, no stare, at this darn bookcase without an ounce of inspiration. 

Today, in a last ditch effort, I took out my Annie Sloan's Paint in Paris Grey.  Thinking I had nothing to lose, except an hour of time, I painted over the piece with one coat.   I even painted the shelves.  I knew the chalk paint could take the abuse later. 

This is the way the bookcase looks like as I type this.....just dull.  Sorry about the poor image.  Just snapping an image of this thing annoys me!

So the next thing is to get it the heck out of my bedroom and put it in my workshop, no deep in my workshop!!  "Woot! Goodbye bookcase!" 

from Remodelaholic


Perhaps, there will be a day in the future that a light bulb goes on and I figure out a way to like this bookcase.  For now.....I am throwing in the towel.  The bookcase wins.  It is time for me to figure out something else for the space it  occupied.  I am thinking of something in unfinished pine or maybe a little farmhouse piece.  The room needs the texture. I can't think of anything I love more than unfinished and distressed wood. Sounds like a shopping excursion!!  Yippee! What's better than shopping to drown out your sorrows?!.........Car keys in hand, onward! 

-The End (Truly)-