Bookshelf

 For my son's room, I really wanted to add a bookshelf.  I recently bought him a Biorb aquarium and also wanted the tank to be out of his reach also (he's only 2).  All of his books are currently being stored on his dresser by bookends or aren't being used because they are on the closet shelf.

I bought a bookshelf off of Marketplace on Facebook.  When I was picking it up, the bottom door fell off.  So I had to wood glue that together.  

I removed all of the shelves and doors.  I also cut off the extra couple inches of wood on either side of the top of the bookcase, you can see them in the photographs below.  It almost looks like it was put together wrong, it felt like an eye sore and I don't think that's how it was intended to look.

I wish I could tell you this was solid wood but it appears to be made out of particle board.  I bought some peel and stick paper from Amazon.  Now, obviously I should have waited to put this on the back, because I am wanting to paint the whole bookcase white with the same chalk paint I used to paint my son's dresser.  However, when I went to go get the paint, it had dried out (probably didn't get the lid on quite right).  I ordered the chalk paint but it's going to take a little bit to get to me and I couldn't waste a whole day and not do something to this project.

I will say, the peel and stick paper was ok to use.  It did it's job but due to the design, this paper was almost impossible to match up.  If I were to use peel and stick paper like this again, I would measure my project and by some the same width as my project or even bigger.  If you are a perfectionist, you will hate this stuff, lol.

I also bought the same knobs I used in the dresser project.

We also got his Biorb up and running, isn't it cool?!?!  We are waiting on the tank to cycle so no fish in there yet.  I got this Biorb off an auction site for $5!  What a steal, right?  It had a broken seal when I got it, but I used silicone and it seems to be holding water fine now.  Waiting on one more decorative item to come in.  I will be excited to get this bookshelf project done, it's so tempting for him to want to put his fingers in the tank.  He had been telling the "pretty rocks" hi everyday.

I used Annie Sloan chalk paint on the dresser, the color is Old White.

When I've used Annie Sloan chalk paint in the past, I was super impressed with it.  This time not so much.  I ended up having to use 3 coats and ran out of paint.  I'm not sure if something changed with the formula, but I'm not sure I'll be buying it again.

Fish tank time out....we got a few shrimp to put inside.  I've never kept shrimp before but they are pretty cool to watch.

It's really fun to see when they are all active, here is 1 swimming around.  We ended up buying 2 yellow, 2 red and 2 blue.

Still working on decorating it, but it's anchored to the wall and the fish tank has been moved.

The before and after photo.

Also installed this cool little light switch for Finn to use.