Saturday, January 28, 2012

Update Cheap Furniture: DIY Bookshelf and Furniture Revamp with Fabric

change cheap furniture with fabric weekend DIY

When it comes to furniture I'm extremely picky. I've lived in my house for 3 years before I bought a sofa. It's not because I'm dirt poor, I have saved money for one. It's not because there are no sofas for sale in my town, there are thousands. I just don't like any of them. I hate most traditional items unless its sacasum or painted a bright color. The Southern Country middle class that every furniture store seems to showcase is off putting. And don't get me started on Micro suede. Gross!!! I'd rather wait and slowly buy things I love then have a house full of cheap crap. =P

That being said I have a few pieces of cheap crap bought out of necessity. One being a cabinet from Target to put my CD's in. I've yet to jump on the download bandwagon. I like my music in disc form with a case and a slip of lyrics and pictures that the musicians can autograph.


I think the cabinet was $29.99 on sale and came in a flat box and you put it together yourself. It's pressed board...another cringe worthy phrase for me. It came in Black and Espresso. Espresso is a name given to dark brown furniture to get women to buy it. It's a beautiful marketing ploy. We love the word even if we don't drink coffee.

I went to Joann’s Fabrics with my 20% percent off coupon I printed from the Internet. Always check for these before you go. Most of the Fabric was already 30% to 60% off so double score. I was also covering some bookshelves...more about those a little later. I only found two fabrics I liked in the whole store (there's that pickiness again) so luckily I only needed two for my projects.


The Fabric I choose for the cabinet was in the Upholstery section and a bit thicker than the other. It was a bit loud but I wanted a print with teal and brown in it that wasn't a stripe, polka dot or floral and once you eliminate those there's not a whole lot left. Pink is not in my living room color scheme but it's a lead actress in my kitchen and bedroom. A little pink in the living room never hurt anyone.

I also bought a can of Medium spray adhesive since I was using a coupon. This stuff is amazing. I normally wouldn't blow $9.99 on a can of anything but I splurged when it was 20% off. =P

First I took the doors off the cabinet and measured the fabric to cover the front of the doors and wrap the edges. It's basically like wrapping a giant schoolbook. I heavily sprayed the fabric down and laid it on top of the door. I then quickly smoothed out from edge to edge so there weren't any air bubbles. I made holes where the handles attached simply buy pushing the screw in...then reattached the handles. Easy Peasy.

Fabric covered cabinet DIY furniture


recover furniture DIY furniture project

When I cut the fabric I did have the pattern continuously wrap the doors but somehow I ended up with one piece upside down. I was sure I triple checked this so was quite bummed to see that I'd somehow screwed it up. I lived with the Espresso for awhile before I decided it was too dark. I choose a metallic gold to lighten it up.

Paint and cover with fabric cheap Target furniture


In my office I have two $12.99 Target bookshelves that I loathe. They were left here by my old roommate. Since I have so much craft supplies though I need them or else all that stuff would be in a pile in the floor. This was the original reason I thought about covering the furniture. Once again they are the "Espresso" color.


I wanted a Fabric in a graphic print and preferably had turquoise in it. My style preference for the Office keeps shifting from Mad Men to India and back again. I lucked out and found a print that would work for either so I can put off that stressing me out decision again.


Since I was covering exposed edges I decided it would be cleanest to hem the fabric all the way around. This was very time consuming without a sewing machine. I used Fabric glue which has become a staple in my life. (OMG fixed all my work pant hems in about 5 minutes and its washable...genius)


I have my electric outlets on the outside of my walls since my house is cement. It's kind of a cool industrial look but it makes it hard to find a place for the bookshelves as there's only one place in the office that they can be flesh with the wall. That place is very inconvenient for the placement of my other office decor and computer. To solve this problem I removed the backs of the shelves so the outlet could just come through.


I used the fabric glue and the spray adhesive to attach the fabric to the bookshelves just like the cabinet. For now I'm leaving some of the "Espresso" and decided not to cover the whole thing. I haven't decided if I want to paint the exposed "wood" or leave it as is. Next I need to cover some of the shelving accessories. =)

decorate bookshelves with fabric

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