Shelving Unit Upgrade With White Wash Treatment
2 Materials
$10
4 Hours
Easy
I recently took on the challenge of transforming a dark and neglected basement into a creative space for me to use for a few months. I was on a very tight budget for this project but luckily there were a few things left in the basement that I could use or repurpose, like this old shelving unit built out of 2"x4".
It will be very useful to store things but I had to figure out a way to spruce it up without spending a lot of money. I had always wanted to try white washing a piece of furniture so this was the perfect occasion to give it a try without too much stress about the outcome.
So after doing a bit of research online, I settled on making a white wash mix of 1 part paint, 2 parts water. It's important to mix the 2 together very well to have a uniform distribution of the paint. I prepped the shelving unit by filling in holes with wood filler and sanding down the rougher parts.
Then I applied the white wash mix onto the shelving unit with a brush first, and then wiped off the excess with damp rag. Please don't go "sans-gloves" like I did or your hands will be covered with paint like mine were!
After doing the first coat and letting that dry, I opted to apply another coat for a whiter look.
The shelves had a lot of stains so I painted them instead of doing the white washing.
I really liked how it turned out! I didn't do this but it would be a good idea to seal it with wax or some other sealer.
Here's the shelving unit all finished with the barn doors I added. I made t he hardware myself in a way that's really easy (hand tools only!) and it was way cheaper than buying these on Amazon.
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You can see all the projects I did in the basement in this video, including how I built the LED lighted wall panel, and temporarily covered up the old carpet.
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