Transforming A Built In Bookcase

Two weeks ago, Katie moved into her new apartment.  A new accommodation with much more room.  One of her dilemma's though was this bookcase.  She did not want to store books on it.  It needed to be something better.  Something to gaze your eyes upon and take in each detail.  It's the first thing you see when you walk in the front door, so it had to make a statement!

After everything got moved in and assigned its new location, she got busy thinking of ways to transform this bland white space.

She invited me to help her come up with decorating ideas.  We went to Hobby Lobby and searched the aisles and decided on getting some scrapbook paper to accent the back of each shelf.  We did not want to use a permanent adhesive so we went with regular scotch tape and double sided removable scotch tape.  We measured the height of the shelf space and trimmed all the 12 X 12 sheets to fit.  We needed a ruler because all we had was an old curled up measuring tape.  Walmart helped us out with that for 88 cents on the school supply aisle.

Bookshelf with its new backing............

While at Hobby Lobby we came up with the idea of placing some greenery in a glass jar.  We liked the look of this jar and it's lid and then chose some bright green leaves to compliment the color of the jar lid and the scrapbook paper.  All supplies were half off yesterday!  Whoo hoo for a good Hob Lob sale!

It was easy to tear off the sections of leaves from the large stem that they were all fastened to.  Katie then laid each stem horizontally in the jar and stacked them around the inside edge.......

We were both impressed with how well this project turned out.  Another one will be made today and added to the bookshelf to balance out the pops of color more between the shelves.

Katie also picked up a couple of baskets at 50% off.  She will be going back to get another basket today too to help balance out the decor between the shelves.

She has had this cute ceramic bird for a couple of years.  We liked the idea of placing something short in front of something taller.  Katie also picked up a "W" and "K" at Hobby Lobby........

Last week she found this ceramic owl at Marshall's.  It was white and she spray painted it this bright color.  Yesterday at Hobby Lobby, she walked by the mirror aisle and this small round turquoise mirror caught her eye.  It has small amounts of the same yellow as the owl swirled in the paint.  Another perfect find for the day !  The green "alligator" skin candle will get replaced with something in a more suitable color.

This "Save Time See It My Way" sign was also a great bargain at Marshall's last week and very appropriate for it's new owner !

We love how this bookcase has been transformed !!!  One more jar of greenery and one more basket to make it complete!!!  And as a bonus, while we were decorating, William was painting the master bedroom.  I will show pictures of that room after it gets completed.

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