Yucky Thrift Store Bookcases to Gorgeous Built-Ins!
5 Materials
$150
4 Days
Medium
I really wanted to give our main floor hallway a makeover. It was pretty dark and drab. The hallway is wide and I knew that built-ins would look great along the wall, plus they would be very useful. Custom built-ins are pretty expensive to have made - hence my idea of DIY thrift store bookcases!
Here is the hallway "before". As you can see, there is space for built-ins along the wall. I decided the create my own DIY challenge and do it myself for under $150.00.
With my idea of built-ins in mind, I went thrifting and found these two bookcases that were exactly what I had in mind.
The bookcases were $12.99 each but were in pretty bad shape. One had an old and dirty plexiglass paperweight melted into its bottom shelf - yuck.
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I decided exactly where I wanted the bookcases and my husband and I removed the baseboard and shoe molding so they would fit tight against the wall.
The bookcases obviously needed help! After sanding and priming, I painted the bookcases in Behr Semi-Gloss that I had mixed in a Benjamin Moore color, Cloud White. I think purchasing Ikea bookcases would have been easier but hey - I love a challenge! Plus, they are solid wood and were very inexpensive.
I measured and went to Home Depot to have the trim cut to size.
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Using a miter box to miter the corners, I then adhered the trim and used a caulk gun to seal it. The trim was then painted in the same white (Cloud White by Benjamin Moore) as the bookcases.
I also found this great rug for $14.99 at the thrift store. Score! I painted the hallway in Benjamin Moore Guilford Green and added white curtains and a gallery wall to complete the makeover!
Here is the hallway "after"! Please click on over to the blog for more pics! It was completed for less than $150!
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Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Comments
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2 of 120 comments
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Great results!
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Beautiful! Thank you for the great ideas! Happy Holidays. 😊
Frequently asked questions
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Why was the the hallway so dark in the beginning and so full of light in the end? I love the design but where did the light come from?