Wallpaper Lined Chalkpainted Bookshelf

My client brought me this dingy, dirty bookshelf she found off of Craigslist.

I cleaned it up, and made my own DIY ivory chalkpaint. This is the recipe I used.

1 1/2 cups of paint
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 cup plaster of paris
Mix and let set 30 minutes.

I then distressed it using a medium grit sanding block I bought at Lowe’s. I then glazed it with a 2 to 1 ratio of clear mixing glaze and Special Walnut stain from Minwax.

I just poured the mixture into a plastic disposable cup and stirred. Make sure to use gloves or you will have brown fingers for a week! I may or may not be speaking from experience.

After letting the stain mixture dry overnight, I waxed the piece with Annie Sloan’s clear wax and buffed it off the following day.

To add a pop of color I decided to line the back of the shelves with wallpaper. I took raised printed wallpaper,also bought at Lowes, and painted it with my own DIY turquoise chalkpaint (same recipe as above).  It took about two total coverage coats and 2 to 3 extra touch-up coats to get into all the nooks and crannies of the paper. Once that dried, I coated it with two coats of poly to give the piece some durablity when books would be pressed against it.

I then attached the wallpaper with a spray adhesive.

Let me emphasize that the spray-adhesive step should be done in a garage or outdoors! I learned the hard way. All of the overspray landed all over my studio floor and was almost impossible to get off. I also got it all over my feet, and I had to endure two days of hearing myself stick, stick as I stepped. The product did work though. I sprayed the back of the shelf and the back of the paper, but you have move quickly adjusting it or it is stuck.

In the end I was happy with it, and so was my client!