Bookcase redo PB knockoff

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My cottage is craftsman style and I love it except for one minor detail….There is NO storage in this place!  It is a constant battle to keep it uncluttered and organized!

I am sure most people can empathize with not having enough funds to decorate your house.  This is the case with us as well.  I’ll omit whining here;)  So I had been looking online and at local furniture shops trying to find some sort of bookcase with doors for my keeping room.  I needed it to be wide enough for scrapbooks, and keep all my craft junk hidden.

I found this beauty at Pottery Barn

and it was over $5,000!

And since that’ll never happen, I set off to find something similar.  Even the “similar” things I found were over my budget.  So I searched on Craigslist and found a cabinet that was huge,  stained oak, and looked like it was from the 80’s with scalloped detail and granny hardware.  My husband thought I was nuts when I told him I wanted it, but I knew it was a diamond in the rough!  And so we bought it for just $200!!  It is so big that it wouldn’t fit in our car and we had to make two trips to just bring that baby home.

I could lie and say this was a weekend project, but it took quite a while… There may have even been some “heated” discussions between my husband and me about getting this puppy done—because it took over a year!!!!  Imagine no garage space and a whole lot of dust and garbage to walk around every day just to get in and out of the car.  It was a mess.  But once it was done, I told my husband “I told you so” pointed out how nice it was and how it was worth all the blood sweat and tears.  It really is beautiful, and my husband did an awesome job.  And to be fair, it only took him that long because he was already doing a million other things for me—he’s the man!

I wish we had a “before” picture, but we don’t, so here’s my best description of what we had to fix:  Rip off plywood backing and replace with bead board.  Tear down weird, vertical divider in the middle of a shelf, rip off doors, cut off scroll detail and sand down to make it an arch, make new larger doors, add molding and trim, add lights, and paint the whole thing white.

And here’s how it turned out

Isn’t she pretty??  Worth the $200, and then some, and even worth all the time it took to get it done.  My husband said the lights will be properly installed, although they work manually right now, “later.”  I think they are on the 5-year plan.  I’m okay with that!  Besides, I  know he secretly enjoyed the process because he’s already done several other furniture redo's since—I knew I could get him hooked into furniture remodels!!  Plan A—a success, Plan B—to have a barn full of the greatest tools and make furniture all day…someday…

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