My newest obsession

Before we moved into our new house, i knew there were certain things i wanted differently in terms of furniture. I wanted a lot of new furniture but wasn't willing to pay full price for something new. So over the last month or so, i have slowly worked my way up to refinishing a few peices of furniture! I started with something i already had.... our nightstand. I sanded, primed, then painted it a pretty light green from leftover paint we had from painting our old kitchen. Then i sanded the edges & went back over it with a quick rub of some stain we already had. Then i decided i needed another nightstand. So i got a cheap $25 nightstand off of craigslist & started all over doing the exact same thing to it. Plus i added a layer of polyurethane on top to protect it. (i took no pictures of these, can you believe that?)

Anyway, then i started searching Craigslist again for several things i have been wanting... side tables & some sort of storage space in the living room. Our TV is now in an alcove so i needed a place to store all the DVD's etc out of sight as well as some shelving space for books/pictures. I stumbled across this bookshelf (actual bookshelves aren't pictured) for $75, but i talked the guy down to $50. It was pretty beat up & even had a few hand cut holes in the back of the unit where the previous owner apparently wanted to plug in something. It also had a built in light up top that we removed.Over the course of a long weekend, i turned it into this..... I primed, sprayed 2 coats of Rustoleum paint in Black Satin & then sanded the edges with 80 grit sandpaper. Then i went back over those exposed edges with Ralph Lauren Glaze tinted to "smoke" color (got at Home Depot). Don't think i got all this on my own. I have been following a blog for awhile called www.shanty2chic.blogspot.com that has lots of great information!

I haven't added any hardware back on because i haven't decided just what i want yet. In this photo you can also see those holes pretty well. I did cut down a small peice of black scrapbooking paper to cover it up from the back of the unit. I was going to make a whole new backing, but decided that 1) i didn't want to put that effort into it right now 2) the books will most likely cover most of that up and 3) i might actually want those holes some time myself! So i just went with the paper method!
Here she is all set up in the living room! And i did it all with out any help! I am so proud of myself!
And i already have another project primed in the garage ready for a first coat of spray paint.... stay tuned!