Upcycling fun - Creating a space for all my books

I absolutely adore the summertime in Tasmania, the days were the sun is just warm enough and the evenings where the light seems to last forever.

Over the past few months my book collection has begun to overflow its current space. I was gifted many books for Christmas (a tradition in my family), was lucky enough to receive a few advanced copies of upcoming Reading by Candlelight books and of course a few that I've purchased myself. I decided it was time to organise a reading space and bookshelf for my little collection (that is not so little anymore). 

After scouring Facebook marketplace and Gumtree for a few days, Tom stumbled upon a lovely little bookcase that would only set us back $50, it was perfect for the space. 

Having already bought a sample pot of Banksia Leaf for my last upcycling project, I settled on using it again to bring a bit of colour into our lounge room (and once again, reduce the number of wood features in the space). 

I set to work with our orbital sander and gave the entire bookcase a quick once over, just to rough it up so the paint will stick. 

After giving it a quick dusting to remove any residue, I began painting. I started off using a paintbrush to run along the edges and joins. Then, to speed up the process, I used a roller to cover the bulk of the surface. 

Once the first coat was on I gave it a couple of hours to dry and then followed up with a second coat. I found that two coats provided enough coverage so I didn't go in with a third. 

Once it was dry, I relocated it to its new home in the lounge room and added a small number of books and plants to it. To finish it off I added a gorgeous lamp to the top shelf. We received it as a gift for Christmas from my parents and it is
one-of-a-kind handmade by Fin, who I went to university with. You can have a look at his incredible creations here.

The bookshelf is still looking a little bit empty as I haven't had time to fill it since getting my appendix out but I am looking foreward to organising it and adding little trinkets to fill out the shelves. 

I love finding a new Upcycling project, next on my list is to try my hand at patching some old clothes using embroidery!