Painting laminate furniture - project complete!

Ok, now that the summer of weddings has ended, I've found some time to complete my book shelves.

Remember how our old laminate book cases went from this: 

to this:

Huge improvement, right?

Too bad the painting fairy never showed up over the last 4 weeks to finish my project, though.  I still needed to give the back of the all-white case one more coat of paint as well as paint all of the shelves (4 per book case).  

Once I realized said fairy wasn't showing up found some spare time in my life, I finally tackled the rest of this project.  

I took the same steps painting the shelves, as I did with the actual book cases.  It took one afternoon to paint the shelves and then another 2 days for them to sit out on our balcony drying.  

Without further adieu, here are some photos of the final result!

I love how the blue back turned out.  I think the white pieces look really fresh and the colourful accents keep it feeling playful and not too serious.  I'm sure the shelves will be ever-changing because that's my idea of a good time :)

I'm happy I decided to keep the book chase in the living area solid white.  The plan is to move this book case to another room once we eventually purchase a proper hutch to use as a television stand.  So the fact that it is all-white will make it easier to match with other things.  

I like adding colour by layering framed art at the back of the shelves.  We have a few pieces that still need to be framed.  Can't wait to get on that!

In the end, this project probably took me a total of 10 hours and cost roughly $140.  Overpriced, probably.  But I'm totally happy with the result and the fact that I didn't have to spend money on brand new book cases.  So, I say to all of you wondering if you should paint your brown laminate pieces of furniture, go for it!  It's amazing what a coat (or four) of paint can do!  

And 10 points to those who noticed my blue ikat pillow!  I sort of made him centre stage in the last few pics :)  It's a new purchase from Home Sense this weekend for $24.99. I love their pillow selection, and I think it ties in with my colours wonderfully. 

Next on the condo décor to-do list  is hanging bedroom curtains.  I purchased some black-out curtains from Bouclair Home last week and am dying to mount them.  Our bedroom never seems to get too dark with the city lights at night time and bright sun in the mornings.  

So, I know there isn't a painting fairy, but do  you think there is one who hangs curtains???

Painting laminate furniture

How was your long-weekend?  I hope it was a nice combination of fun in the sun, socializing with friends and family, topped with a generous dose of (insert favourite beverage here)!

We had a great weekend - my first weekend spent at the condo actually!  It was nice to wake up and enjoy our new space instead of having to rush off to work.  I still sort of feel like I'm on a vacation, living in someone else's home.

Although we were quite busy socializing with friends, I did find the time on holiday Monday to tackle a portion of my painting project.  And for my first attempt at painting furniture, I think it went pretty well.

Saturday, Derek and I decided to shop local and we hit up the Benjamin Moore paint store on Beachwood for our supplies.  After leaving there having spent almost $140 we decided that it probably wasn't the most economical store for our project.  Live and learn, right?!

We purchased all the necessary supplies that any beginner requires...

• a small foam roller
• an angled foam brush 
• paint tray with disposable liners
• a large plastic drop cloth
• sanding block
• paint

The nice lady at the store suggested we go with their Aura Interior Paint.  Maybe because they claim that it is the finest paint they've ever made, "offering the most advanced way to bring colour to life", but probably because it's the most expensive.  Either way, she hooked us.

One gallon of decorator's white (CC-20) cost us $73.  (GASP!  That $!@% cray!)  We went with the satin finish.  The good news is that it's a great colour (can you call white a colour?) and I plan to use on other pieces of furniture.  It also comes with a built in primer which meant I could skip that step.  The website insists that "Aura paint covers like no other, with even the deepest shades never requiring more than two coats."  My project actually required three coats.

For the accent colour in the back of the cabinets we chose Pool Blue (2052-50).  It came to about $25 for a quart of the Aura in satin finish.  We both loved how refreshing it felt, and it really reminded me of my inspiration photo:

Monday arrived and Derek helped me set-up on our balcony before leaving to play golf.  I'll admit, it was a little crowded out there, but I managed.  Condo living = learning to deal with tight spaces!

Before I got started I was pretty nervous, having never tackled such a project.  But I remember something I read recently about how beginner DIY'ers shouldn't be scared or hesitant and need to just DIVE IN!  So that's what I did.  Without thinking about it too much, I got to sanding and painting right away!

Here's a little timeline of photos for you....

After one coat.

After two coats.

Three coats!  I actually only did two coats on the back since I would be painting it in pretty pool blue.

After one coat of pool blue:

Digging the blue!

And they are in!  I had to cut my painting session short to head out to my soccer game, and I was only able to finish one coat of blue paint on the one unit.  We still need to paint all the shelves too.  Over all I'm pretty happy, and I think once the shelves are up and they are styled it will look more "coastal modern" and less "little boy's room".

As for how I edged around the inside with blue paint, I actually sacrificed one of my eye shadow brushes.  The angled foam brush the lady at Benjamin Moore suggested just wasn't doing the trick and since it was a holiday everything was closed.  

A few other things I learned:

• wait the complete hour and a half before applying your next coat
• watch out for drips and catch them as soon as you can
• light, smooth coats are better than thick ones

Although I may not have used the best painting techniques or overspent on supplies, I'm glad I decided to just dive right in.  Even if they are not perfect, I think it's a great improvement from the dark brown laminate we started with!

Do you agree?

Derek actually commented that the inside of our condo is beginning to resemble the colour scheme on the outside of the building!  Maybe we were subliminally inspired by the outside design!

I am itching to finish painting so that I can style my book shelves!  Derek said he might tackle the rest of the painting which would be nice.  I will keep you posted on how it goes!