A new take on an old bookcase

This bookcase was sitting outside one of my favorite "antique" stores.  I drove past it twice a day for a good month on my way to and from work.  I would find myself looking to see if it was still there. 

And then I would play the what would I do with that game.  You know the game...If I bought it what would I do to it?  Where would it go?  Can I REALLY use it? And then inevitably..how much does it cost?  Is it worth it?

I finally stopped one day and took a look.  Imagine my glee when I saw it was solid wood and 40 bucks.  I had to have it.  It came home with me that day.  I didn't have a set place in mind for it but it was way to good of a deal to pass up.

Fast forward a couple of months.  The hubs finally gave in to letting me convert his unused space in the basement into my amazing dream craft space.  Lightbulb!  The bookcase can become my new craft storage area.  I dug it out of the bowels of my garage and got to work.

First I washed it all down and then gave it a good sanding.  I pulled out my fabulous aqua paint and my trusty old dove white paint.  I gave it two coats of paint of each.  Fabulous aqua inside the box and trusty dove white on the rest.  It looked like this when I was done...

(I love, love, love the raised panel detail on the back of the bookcase!  Squeee!)

Then I added four casters to the bottom of the bookcase for ease of movement.  It is heavy without everything in it.  Plus it is tucked in the "utility closet" of the basement.  We sometimes need to be able to access the electrical panel and the water main. 

Here it is all tucked into it's space.

And here it is all dressed up ready to go.

(Sorry for the dark picture.  There is no natural light in the room and 

sometimes it's just tough to get  a good shot.)

I love my new bookcase.  Hard to believe it started out so rough.  It's unbelievable what a little elbow grease and paint can do.  I love taking something that everyone says is "trash" and making it my treasure.

I'm liking up at:

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