Every once in a while I like to check out the Goodwill ‘Outlet’ store on TV Highway.  I don’t like picking through the bins- it’s a mish mash of junk, a lot of it broken, I think it’s disgusting and I don’t have the patience to sort through all that stuff to find a little treasure, so I just skip browsing them altogether and only look at the furniture.

Friday I found a short but long bookshelf, marked down to $3.00!  It would be perfect for the playroom- and it is much nicer looking than those ugly Closetmaid cubbies I have in the room.  I was drawn to the size, the shape, the color (it’s a birch/maple color), although the rest of the furniture in the playroom is white.  It seemed to be in really good shape, sturdy, it has a solid back, appears to be pretty good quality, but it does have some water damage at the bottom right-hand side, slightly visible from the front.  Not fixable, but maybe I could paint the bookshelf and at least ‘mask’ the damage.   I could paint it white, so it matches the rest of the room!

The joints were all a bit loose, but when I pulled them apart I could see the cam screws were in place, and the wood dowels, but nothing was ‘broken’.  I figured maybe the camlocks were undone or something…even if they were broken or missing, I could screw the darn thing together and spackle and sand and paint and nobody would know! So that was the plan…..I would be painting a bookcase this weekend!

So I slid the bookcase over to the “customer pick up area” and paid my three-dollars, had them load it into the SUV, then I headed over to Home Depot to pick up some foam rollers and durable semi-gloss white paint.  I already had primer and sandpaper at home.  The guy confirmed that it would be an easy make-over.

Here’s some of the detail that I liked…..

Rounded edges:

Adjustable shelves:

Solid back:

Here’s the water damage…..

Front view:

Side view:

With the camera flash it’s much more noticeable than it is in “real life”.

My dad helped me unload it and bring it into the house Saturday morning (Jim was out of town).  As I started cleaning it, I realized that I really appreciate the color and really don’t want to paint it.  I focused on fixing the ‘loose’ ends.  Turns out the cam locks were completely undone- possibly never twisted in the first place- and then covered so they weren’t accessible.  I broke all the covers off (yes, broke!) and added wood glue to all the dowels (one was missing!) and put it back together, tightened the cam locks, and now it’s super sturdy and great!

I don’t think there’s a way for me to hide the water damage, but I do like the color as-is and plan to keep it that way.  It might be a nice addition to the playroom, add a little ‘color’!

Oh, and the back is stamped “Made in Denmark”.

Well, it was until I painted over it!  The back of the bookcase is now a magnetic chalkboard surface!  I knew I would be using this piece as a room divider some of the time, and since I already had the magnetic chalkboard paint out for another project, I decided to roll the back of this, too!

Turns out the bookcase is too wobbly to have free standing on carpet, so until I can manufacture some sturdier legs or a sturdier base, it will sit up against the wall.

Here it is: