Easter Projects: Bookshelf

This project has so completely gotten on Doug's nerves. That's why I had to include it in the list of projects to do over Easter weekend with my sister. Didn't quite get finished that weekend, but whatever.

He built this nice little bookshelf for his books in our room.

Then I bought bookcases for our room, and it sat in the garage for a while. Then I primed it. And it sat in the garage for a longer time.

Then we moved it to the basement, where it sat again. And Doug reminded me every so often that it needed to get painted. I'm sure he wanted to add "NOW!", but he refrained like a good husband.

Since my sister wanted some projects to do over Easter weekend, and this was a small one that I could wrap my mind around, I pulled it upstairs and put it on a painting cloth. Amazingly, it even got a coat of white paint that day. And the next. Officially, this was Jack's project, so he started us out.

Then he got bored. But Sophia was always willing to get in the way.

Woot.

Then my sister went with me to buy paint for the back of the dresser - I want it red to go with the whole sunshine room theme. And I even got a coat of red paint on it while she was here.

And I continued with the painting after she left. Happy days - we finished painting entire dresser within a week (hey, I know we could have done it in one day, but nap time will intervene sometimes!).

I did make a mistake by using 1" painter's tape instead of my regular 3" tape. Hey, we had the 1" in the garage and I didn't want to go to the store! But anyway, red stripes ended up everywhere.

So then I had to prime and repaint that, which took an additional few days. Argh. But then it was done, and ready for shelves.

And it is now installed in Jack's room. I love how the red back really pops and makes all the additional colors on the shelves stand out.

It does look a little less "guest-room-esque," but Jack is here more often than guests. So...he gets to put his toys and books on it.

To be useful, I thought I'd also add some information about painting with red paint. It's a challenge, truly. First, use a gray primer. This will help the red color be darker, getting it closer to those lovely paint chips we fall in love with at the store. I didn't use gray primer in this case - why? Partially, because I didn't want to get any for such a small project. Mostly, though, I figured that I could do extra coats of red if I needed to.

Second, you will need extra coats of paint even if you do use a gray primer. Seriously. Probably three coats is standard for a red room.

Third, don't freak out if it isn't the color you originally expected - even after three coats of paint. The last step is to wait. Yes, up to three weeks. Then see if it's the right color. Curing, which is the process of being completely dry and adhered to your surface of choice, takes a while. Dry paint can happen in two hours. Completely cured paint takes 4-6 weeks, after which you can scrub it (only if it's not Flat paint). And color - especially red - takes at least half of that curing time to really come out.

So there you have it. Be persistent and patient if you want to use red. It takes a bit of work, but I think it is totally worth it!