Ages ago, I bought two pre-loved little bookshelves off our neighbourhood whatsapp group. One was baby blue, and one was light purple. I bought them both for R200… you might remember I painted one white and put it in the guest room as part of the Guest Bedroom Makeover Series (don’t ask how that is going BTW!).

Anyway, over the December holidays I decided to tackle the other one. This one was in better shape than the previous shelf, and had a backboard.

I gave it a quick, light sanding (hooray for electric sanders – what fun!!) and cleaned it. I used Fired Earth Chalk Paint, in colour Larva. I really love this soft muted minty, duck eggy colour <3

Before – this light purple is so not my vibe!

I gave the whole thing two coats. Chalk paint is great because it dries to quickly, so a job like this really is a one day game, which is great because I’m all about instant gratification.

Once the paint was dry, I sealed it with Granny B’s Armour, in matt

Originally, I had wanted to remove the backboard and wallpaper it with the same wallpaper from the dining room, but I didn’t have another piece of board, and I didn’t want to wait to finish this, so I decided to try using some marble contact paper (from Makro) I had to cover the back.

I’m really happy with how it turned out!

It now lives in my office with my orchids, the beagles’ trophies and some light reading. I think it’s really cute! And the best part is that I had everything I needed to transform it, so it didn’t cost a thing… but if I did need to buy anything:

• Fired Earth Chalk Paint R185 for 1 litre at Builder’s Warehouse
• Granny B Armour Sealer R239 for 1 litre online
• Contact Paper R199 for 10m (so, a lifetime supply!) at Makro

My office has been on the backburner, makeover wise, so I’m glad it’s starting to get some love… very slowly!