Ikea Shelves Antiquing Project

Let me start off by saying that I'm obsessed with Ikea.  Hubby and I bought these shelves from Ikea for $25 when we moved into our first aparment for kitchen storage. 

Not the best picture, but you get it.

We realized that our new kitchen doesn't have space for anything to hang them, so I started brainstorming other uses.  But I wasn't a huge fan of the light wood shelves for anywhere other than the kitchen.  So what's a girl to do?  Turn to her fellow blogs for inspiration of course!

I've seen plenty of blogs on re-finishing furniture or adding an antiqued look to craft projects.  Lo and behold, we also had leftover paint from touching up the walls in the old apartment, so this project was totally free.  That's my kind of crafting.

Ikea Shelves Antiquing Project

Materials

Old shelves

Sandpaper
Paint brushes

White paint

Colored paint
Newspaper (if you're ghetto and painting on an apartment balcony like me)

Sand down the old shelves on your itty-bitty balcony.

Paint the shelves with two coats of white paint.  Try not to get paint on the brand new bbq cover.  Oops.

Paint the shelves with two coats of colored paint (I used a light blue).  Let them dry up against the side of the balcony because there is no other room.  Oh, and cover them with a plastic bag if a rainstorm decides to screw up your crafting.

I decided to also paint the metal bar and hooks so the look was a little more cohesive.
Once completely dry, sand the edges and shelves so that the white and the wood show through.  Have your Hubby mount them back up on the wall for you.

Ta da!  Gorgeous "new" shelves, now fit for use outside of the kitchen (or garage, or wherever you had them before).  Stand by for my follow up tutorial for some fun ideas of what to put on those hooks.

Note for my fellow amateur crafters: Let's not lie, I've been working on this project for days.  It's not as easy as it looks, especially when you have a four by four patio to work on.  I thought about giving up about ten times...especially when it rained and I had to cover it with a trash can...but it turned out great and it was totally worth it in the end!

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