before + after: luca’s grass cloth bookshelf

FINALLY sharing a little before and after of Luca’s room today and it happens to be one of my favorite DIY/furniture transformations yet!! Luca’s room has become somewhat of a dump-all for toys in rotation, the hubby’s work bags and just about anything and everything else that I don’t want to lay eyes on in the living areas of the house (since he has yet to sleep anywhere else but where Momma is).  BUT….his room is now also warmed up with this gorgeous, grass cloth-backed bookshelf that we transformed from a dark, uninteresting piece from our last house, too!

The bookshelf was a clearance purchase from World Market years ago when we bought our first house, but it had been sitting in a corner of the garage in our current home collecting dust and random crap since we moved in eight years ago.  It happens to be the perfect size for behind the door in Luca’s room, and Lord knows extra surface space and shelving is never a bad idea when you have littles, so we decided to clean it up and give it a little facelift.  Here is what it looked like before:

We used our air compressor and sprayed two light coats of Sherwin Williams Extra White to match the walls and then I used some of the leftover grass cloth from our dining room to back it.  I absolutely LOVE how it turned out.  It adds just the right amount of texture, warmth and so much interest to this corner and is such a pretty background for his beautiful books and die cast VW bus collection (we are OBSESSED).  It also is such a pretty compliment to all the aqua (I made sure to inclue a little sliver of the aqua linen window treatments in the top photo!)

I’m a huge fan of decorating with things that hold special meaning and that goes for in kid’s rooms, too, so his shelves are filled with nods to Daddy’s career as a Marine (a VW bus was his ride when stationed in Hawaii, which is why we have so many of them), our love of the sea and Luca’s obsession with fire trucks.  All of my Little Golden Books from when I was little and an almost-complete set of vintage Hardy Boys books have pride of place here, too (Lydia has my mom’s complete set of original Nancy Drew’s!)  I even framed a picture Lydia made for him when we came home from the hospital!

I still need some bed linens and to frame some artwork before this room is complete (I plan to have it all done in time for family to visit this Christmas!), so I’ll be sure to post progress shots along the way.  Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!