What to do with 1980's bookshelves!

Continuing with the "work with what you got theme", once we were done with our kitchen remodel, new air conditioner, roof repair, sprinklers, landscaping, carpet, painting, repair upon repair of various items, we were definitely out of money! So far in the year and half we have been here, I believe we have sunk over $60,000 into the house. So "working with what I got" is what I did in my living room and dining room!

We knew when we moved in we couldn't change the tile floors. Oh well! They really aren't bad, I'm just not a huge fan of tile. Too cold for me! The rooms are huge and luckily we had some big furniture to fill the rooms. We stuck with our blue couches that we have had for 10 years, but are still in great condition. We added a leaf in our dining table to help fill up the room and now we just needed some basics- rugs, coffee table, end tables, buffet, etc. Now where does a girl like me find all these great items? You guessed it- garage sale or craigslist! Once I found all the furniture, I had to address the last problem in the room- the 1980's bookshelves! I call them bookshelves but honestly they really weren't. They were build in glass shelves with mirrors behind them. It reminded me of the bar in the house I grew up in. Same 1980's look!

After lots of thought and countless hours looking at living room pictures on houzz.com, we decided the mirrors and shelves had to go but we wanted the cabinets to stay. It offers great storage and taking down the whole unit at this point, was not in our budget. The biggest lesson I have learned about home renovations is nothing costs what you think it will cost!!! Take whatever monetary number you have calculated for expenses and double or triple it! Guaranteed! So taking down the cabinets would mean filling the whole back up with something, which in the end would cost us more money!

So my husband and I removed the glass shelves first. Then we taped the mirrors with duck tape. This way it the mirror shatters, it won't fall everywhere. Wearing safety goggles and gloves, we pried out the mirrors with a pry bar. Both mirrors came out intact. Using a bed sheet, we laid the mirrors on the sheet and smashed them and put them in the trash. After the mirrors were down, I repaired holes in the wall with spackle and sanded the dry wall using a special dry wall sanding block. Then I repainted the entire wall a darker brown so it would pop. I also gave the cabinets a good cleaning and repainted them for a fresh look. If we had the money, I would tile the fireplace, but we don't. So for now it will stay white, thus not attracting too much attention to it. Final step was hanging shelves I bought at Lowe's. They cut them to size for me too. Then I decorated!

As for the dining room, all we added was some paint color, a new light fixture and accessories.

Here are some before and after pictures!

 Dining room before. No lighting and chair rail that I wasn't a fan of.

 Living room 1980's bookshelves/cabinets. So many things are wrong about this picture!!:)



The other side of the living room. Lots of tile which made the room feel very cold and the color is way off!

When we took down the mirror, this is what was left. I had to scrape off the glue. Then I spray textured in a few spots. Spray texture comes in a can. You can buy it at any hardware store. After the texture dried, I lightly sanded the wall with a drywall sand paper and painted.

Today! Removing the mirrors and adding shelves makes all the difference. It brings the cabinet up to date. Once I repainted the cabinets, I changed the hardware on them.

 Other side of the living room. Add some paint, curtains, rug and accessories and you are done!

Many of the things on the walls I made or picked up yard saleing. My mom was so kind to make pillows for me too! I ordered fabric online (which is so much cheaper) and we spent a day sewing pillows! There are some things I am funny about purchasing at yard sales. I tend to stick with things I can clean well and pillows are not one of those things!!!

 Dining room today! Add an new light from Lowe's and since I didn't like the chair rail, I just painted it the same color as the walls. This helps minimize it. I added a rug, curtains, furniture and accessories.

Again, most of things you see are repurposed goods! I even got the rug under the table at a yard sale. Good thing I have a steam cleaner at home:)

The other side of the dining room.

Important- When decorating your home, keep things that you love and mean something to you. Edit things that don't. I have things in each room of my house that some may think is weird or silly but they mean something to me! The phone on the wall in the above picture belonged to my Auntie who passed away a few years ago. The picture on the left is a painting I painted with a bunch of wonderful friends. The wine leaves pictures surrounding the mirror in my dining room were made and given to us by my husbands sister. All of these things mean something to me.
Remember- There is no right way or wrong way about design. Design is what you make of it. Create your own design. Who cares what others say, they don't have to look at it everyday, you do!!!