The Handy Housewife: Bringing an Old Bookshelf Back to Life

How to bring an old bookshelf back to life in ten (semi)-easy steps

Tools you will need:

Here are the tools you'll need. All fairly cheap. I bought a sander (details later), a staple gun, a sturdy chisel/putty knife, a measuring tape, wood glue, 1 lb finish/trim nails (1³\4 in), and a dark stain. Later I go back to buy wood putty, a sanding block and a nail set.

Here is the bookshelf I'll be making over

As you can see, it's a little scuffed and old looking

I bought it off Craigslist for too much money lol. I spent $50 because they advertised it as solid oak. Turns out it's just an oak veneer. Still I have faith in you bookshelf!

Okay! On to the work! I wanted to move the crown molding up a couple inches to give the top a fancier look.

Step 1: Start by hammering the chisel under the molding starting at the back and the corner. This process takes a while, so be patient and don't rush it or you'll damage the wood. Start by working your way across the underside of the side panel. Then once you have successfully separated the two pieces slightly, proceed to hammer the wedge all the way through.

The game is to hammer and then try and pry, hammer and pry, repeat until you have success!

Continue on the opposite side and do the face last. It's the most difficult and you need to be the most careful with it!

Step 2: Remove the back. Use your hammer and chisel to pull out the staples on the back of the bookshelf. This should be fairly easy, just a little tedious.

After you've removed all the staples, you'll have to do another session of hammer and chisel to break up the glue between the backboard and the bookshelf.

Then pull it off and set it aside for a while.

Step 3: Bring out the big guns! So this was a $20 Black + Decker mouse sander I bought at Ace Hardware. It's great because the point allows you to get into corners and crevices, saving you a lot of work doing it by hand.

Start on an inside portion until you get the hang of it.

Tip: Be careful when going close to the edges, it will round them even if it doesn't seem like it's hanging over at all.

It works!

Keep going WITH the grain until you sand off all the finish (that's the shiny clear stuff you paint on after staining wood).

Side Note: I'm restaining this piece to make it darker so it matches my other furniture. In order to change the color of a piece of wood, you have to remove the protective "finish" coating to be able to stain the wood.

Get the flat areas with the sander. Smaller curved areas and detailed areas will need to be done by hand. Do NOT attempt to go at it with the sander. You'll ruin it. Promise!

Tip: Make sure to wear either a dust mask or something that does the same thing! Unless you like black lung disease...

Having a hunky husband and a helpful kitty always make the work go by faster!

Step 4: Glue down the little flaps that were pulled up when prying off the crown molding. After that dries, sand off the excess and repeat the process using the
woodputty to fill in the holes. Make sure to push the putty in and then scrape off the excess. After it dries, sand it off.

Done! Time to start the fun stuff!

Using Minwax's Dark Walnut stain, I painted two thin layers on the wood without wiping off. I waited about half an hour between coats. And then left the whole thing for a day to dry completely.

Note: This is not the way to normally apply stain! Normally you would only apply one coat and then wipe it off after five to ten minutes. I initially tried this, but it was nowhere near as dark as I wanted!

Step 5: While waiting for the stain to dry, I bought two yards of this fabric

Hint: Make sure to measure for your own project!

Cut off the excess fabric and lay it out face down. I glue gunned one flap from the back down to keep it from shifting. Then I flipped it over face up and covered the surface underneath the fabric with a spray adhesive.

Tip: Make sure to pull the fabric tight and push out the bubbles as you go.

Flip the board back over and spray glue the sides down into the back of the board.

Finish the corners like you would a wrapped present

Let it sit a few minutes to completely dry, and you're done!

Step 6: Feel free to distress your work. The top piece is the one I did. If you aren't into that look, then leave it as the bottom looking one.

Continue the distressing by going along the corners and edges with your sand paper or sanding block until you get down to the natural wood.

Step 7: Nail the crown molding back on. This was one of the trickier steps for me. Trying to make sure the corners of the molding met after all the pieces were nailed down was kind of a nightmare. I'll admit it took me more than one shot. So moral of the story is, don't feel bad if you're inept when it comes to hammer and nails.

Make sure to use a nail set to push the nails further into the wood and avoid smashing the wood with your hammer.

RETROSPECT: In retrospect, I definitely would have nailed the molding on before staining. I had to do quite a bit of damage control to my staining, and I had to putty the holes and restain them anyway!

After puttying and staining, you can barely see the nail holes.

Step 8: Go back to your shelves! Repeat all the agony of sanding and staining with your shelves.

Hint: The shelves are a thousand times easier! Mine only required one coat of stain.

Step 9: Once everything is stained and nailed back together, you are ready to paint on your finish! I bought Cabot Satin Spar Finish. To be honest I don't know too much about different finishes. To me, the most important part was that it was a 'satin' finish. This part is just a matter of taste. There are a variety of levels of shine on the market with any paint or finish. Personally, I don't like the shiny look so I opted for a more matte look.

The easiest way to go about this I've found is to dip your foam brush about 3/4 inch into the stain bucket and then 3/4 inch into the finish bucket. Then go about painting the mixture on. At first it will seem like you don't have enough, but it goes father than it seems.

Just do one side at a time and give it a day to dry. Make sure you wipe over any drips going down the sides and check after you've finished because there may be more drips. Also, be sure there are no brush strokes visible after you have finished painting. These will be visible when it dries and it's not very pretty.

If you do discover any dried drips later, simply sand them down before you do your stain+finish mixture.

Make sure the area you are working on is free of dust before you begin! Otherwise this will end up getting mixed in, creating a bumpy finish.

Hint: Keep your foam brush in a plastic bag when not using it. Even though it's covered in goop, it will still be good to use if it's been sealed up. This will also save you the hassle of buying a new brush, or even worse, trying to clean an old one!

Step 10: The last step! The one we've all been waiting for! Putting it all back together! Go ahead and use your staple gun to put the back on again. I had my husband do it because it takes quite a bit of bicep action to work that thing!

We didn't do too many staples, just enough to keep the back on. Two at the top and bottom, and two on each side. That way if/when I get bored of the fabric, I won't have the most difficult time in the world changing it out.

Once you have your back on, measure the inside from bottom of the bookshelf to the bottom of the top board. Basically only the visible space. Then divide that by the number of shelves + 1 so that you end up with the number of spaces, not shelves. This will tell you how much space you'll need between each shelf.