A Miniature Shelf Makeover

I'm always on the lookout for small updates that can make a space just a teensy bit better. I've shared some of the changes I've made to my bedroom and my sewing area, and this week I made another small tweak!

I'm trying to make my tiny sewing corner a place that is not only fun to work in, but also be a spot full of color and inspiration as I create and craft. A stroke of genius hit me when I saw this small shelf at a local thrift store:

It is pretty tiny, and I have no clue what it was originally intended for. (bookshelf in a dollhouse, perhaps?)  I had an idea of a way to use it in my sewing corner, and for a quarter I just couldn't pass it up! First, it desperately needed a makeover.

I started by sanding it slightly. It was stained a dark reddish color with a very glossy finish. (You can't tell in the above picture, because it was so dusty, lol!) I sanded it just enough to rough it up and take away that glossy-ness.

When that was done I wiped the whole thing down with a damp cloth. We're almost ready for takeoff painting!

The only other prep work I did was to cover the hooks on the back with tape so they wouldn't get covered in paint. When the shelf is hung they actually show over the top slightly, so I didn't want paint spots all over them! #nothingsaystackylikepaintspots  #justlookatmyshoes

And yeah, I didn't have painters tape...so this packaging tape was used instead. It worked fine as a cover-up, haha!

I gave this bad boy several coats of white spray paint.

I should have started with primer or Kilz to help block the wood, but I didn't have any on hand, so I just decided to go at it anyway. I had to use a bunch of coats of paint, and still there are some spots that the coverage isn't that great, but it isn't noticeable in the end product. Next time, use primer. I'll remember that.

I knew I wanted to do some fun color on the back of each section (which is why you can still see wood showing through in that last picture) but I wasn't sure what. I considered paint, scrapbooking paper, or even paint chips, and finally decided to look through our craft paints and see what colors we already had on hand.

I was hoping for a nice turquoise (because teal makes everything look nice!) but when I saw this nice dark blue, I fell in love!

This is after one coat of "dark night blue." It took three coats to really cover well.

It is pretty imperfect around the edges (there was just no way to get anything straight in those little spots, so I just had to go slowly and do my best with a small craft brush) but I love the end result!

Yup, those are small spools of thread that were previously rolling around in my thread drawer. As to where I hung it, I just shimmied my embroidery hoop art over to make a nice display including the mini shelf.

I played around with what spools I wanted up there - I originally was trying to get a color gradient look - but in the end, these nice evenly-sized spools placed in there randomly seemed best. I have some others on smaller wooden spools, so if I ever need a change I can swap those in and be able to see more peeks of dark blue around them. For now, this is what is making me smile!

Here is the corner as it looks now:

I know the shelf looks crooked in this picture, and it may be slightly, but the whole wall is crooked, so it is hard to say!

Oh, and I put up my memo board again (I took it down off the other wall when I put up the embroidery hoops). It now sits just behind my machines, and is a great place to jot measurements or motivational notes to myself!

I am loving this space, even if it is tiny, as a space to sew, craft and create!

Ps. Happy Thanksgiving to my friends in the States! Eat lots of turkey and sweet potato for me today!