Dressing up a Bookcase

We have 4 Built in Bookcases in our dining room....Yes, Four!  First, for the life of me, I had trouble deciding what to put in them, so they didn't come across as junky.  So, I looked on Houzz.com and typed in Bookcases in the search area.  I looked at a ton of pictures of bookcases.  Houzz also has a discussion area.  In the discussion area, you can upload pictures of your problem area and ask what to do with it.  Then some crafty people and some Professionals will usually offer their advise as how to best to solve your problem.  Say you are having trouble arranging furniture.  Upload pictures of each wall and room dimensions.    Wow, that kind went off subject....so back to the bookcases.

Second, I have seen people put wallpaper in the back of the bookcases, Paint the back of the bookcase.....I wanted something!

Even with a pretty decent display, the bookcase still seemed naked!  I settled on Burlap.  You have seen the Burlap curtains that I made for this room, Right?  Click here, if you haven't. 

If you have ever worked with burlap or you haven't....You can't just cut a straight line, but I will show you how you can!

Measure out what you need.  See those little strings on the side.  Find the one at your mark and pull it all the way out, leaving a gap and where you will cut, giving you a straight line.  I tried to measure out exactly what I needed, because I knew trimming after I got it up, probably would not work.  Someone on Houzz.com said you could use Liquid Starch to put fabric up on the back of a bookcase.....It did Not work for burlap, so I used Wallpaper glue.  I got a tub of it from Lowes Hardware store.  Since burlap is very porous, I used a paint brush and painted the glue onto the back of the case and then hung the fabric.  Pretty easy!  Smooth from the middle out! Kinda hold it, so it doesn't slip about while smoothing.

 It made a Huge difference in how they look!

Much warmer!  I love how it turned out.

One of the bookcases was made into a bar.   I used paintable wallpaper on the back of it.

  So you have any bookcases, that you have dressed up?

An Ole Window Screen

I was holding off on putting this project on my blog, because it is a Mother's Day present and she hasn't received it.  She did see a picture on my phone.  See she she lives out of town, I didn't think we were going to get to see her, but we did....and I didn't have it with me. 

Any how, a faux stained glass project is what inspired the project.  I had some old screens out of my Nanny's shed (her mother).  They have been sitting in my garage and I have pondered......what to do with them. 

Faux Stain Glass...Click Here for Tutorial

I have thought several times about doing one of these windows to go on my front porch and I thought why not the screen.  It would look good out on her patio.  Flying by the seat of my pants, not knowing how paint was going to work out a  screen, I gave it a shot.  I used the Lead Paint tape to do the Large flower, but just free hand painted everything else.  The picture does not give this project credit.  It is kinda a elementary picture, but you can only do so much on a screen.  It is really pretty when held up to the sun.  I have different blues across the top for the sky, greens across the bottom for grass and Garden sayings written around the border.  I sprayed 4 coats of Polyurethane on it, because I really have no idea how this product holds up outside. 

What do you think?  Has anyone else done one of these projects?