$4 Wall Shelf

So I found this at a garage sale for 4 bucks. They actually had 4 different ones but some had heart cut outs--a little too kitschy for me--and others not in great shape. Having just moved into first home, and still unpacking decorative items that I need matching display units for--I thought I'd give the latest "craze" a try. Distressed decor has been very in for awhile now--and fits my "I love old things" aesthetic. And you can find so much out there for sale in various home stores--but holy expensive! But there's so much inspiration here, how could I go wrong?
I started by cleaning the dusty thing, and then painted it a few coats with paint left over from some of our interior jobs. Actually it's the accent color for my living/dining room. I used the dark teal on the inside of the closets as a surprise pop of color. But I lightened it up with some white.
Then I went to work distressing it. Pretty easy and looking good on the raised edges. But I wanted to age it as well--and tone down the color. For months I've been reading about Annie Sloan paint and waxes, but I haven't found it locally. And when I start a project I need to finish it all at once--I get in a zone, and... Lets just say too impatient to order dark wax online. So I googled "household substitute for dark wax". I could've slapped my head! Duh! Shoe shine wax! I found a blog that someone ran out of AS dark wax mid project and tried the shoe kind. So i ran to CVS and one hour later-- it totally worked!
I'm quite pleased. It's probably not as well done as some of the gorgeous pieces I see on here (mostly dressers) but for a first gig AND at $4, who could complain?! Once I have it up and filled I'll update with a new pic.