After twenty years of moving with the Army, my husband is retiring. That’s wonderful news, and it also means it’s time to sort and consolidate the furniture we’ve collected during our marriage.
Our pieces are a varied mix: 1950s Louis XV-style furniture from France, Old Americana antiques, a few hand-me-downs from our childhoods (not antique in the good way), and assorted items that have accumulated over the years. Going through everything to decide what to keep and what to donate is never easy, but some items must go.
This bookshelf is one piece I’m proud of. The center bottom is an old dresser that was either passed down to us or picked up at an auction in the 1990s—I can’t remember which. I do remember it was painted pink at one point.
The shelving units were natural wood kits I bought from Lowe’s while my husband was deployed to Korea. It was one of the first times I borrowed his tools to see how daring I could be. Turns out, I’m pretty handy (and now hooked on DIY projects).
I originally painted the entire piece cream, sanded the edges for a distressed look, and rubbed it down with a pecan-colored stain. It stayed like that for nearly a decade. Now that we’ve moved, I’m happy to say this bookshelf made the cut and will live happily in our office. Still, I was ready to move away from the plain cream finish.
I had considered using Tiffany blue in a guest bedroom, but when I found this rug at Cost Plus World Market, the bright blue seemed perfect to liven up my favorite bookshelf instead.
I even brought a Tiffany box to Home Depot—I don’t know why I’d kept it all these years. My sister-in-law gave her bridesmaids Tiffany earrings and that box is the only Tiffany thing I own, so I guess it felt important to keep. The paint expert scanned the box and matched a formula: Colorant-0Z-384th, AXL-0-85, DL-0-108, EL-0-92. It was spot on. I chose a high-gloss acrylic finish.
I painted the outer edges of the shelves first, working carefully to avoid drips and to keep clean lines.
I was nervous painting on our new hardwood floors—I’m a total klutz—so I was glad my husband wasn’t home while I tackled this step.
I went back and forth about the drawers: should I leave them cream or paint them blue? I made a mock-up in Photoshop and asked followers on Facebook. The opinions were mixed, so I kept experimenting.
A trip to Anthropologie solved part of the dilemma— I found drawer knobs that matched the Tiffany blue perfectly. Jackpot.
In the end I left the drawers cream and accented them with the blue knobs. For now the original pulls work, but I may swap them out later for a more cohesive look.
For the finishing touch I sanded the shelves with 100-grit sandpaper, focusing on the edges until some of the old cream and even traces of the pink showed through. To warm the overall tone, I rubbed the blue with a natural-colored stain. In hindsight I might have chosen a stain one shade darker to increase contrast, but I didn’t want to obscure the blue entirely.
The bookshelf turned out beautifully, especially beside the new rug. Now it’s time to give my collection of cookbooks and vintage cooking magazines a proper home.