Hello friends! It’s my favorite time of the month again.
Can you guess what that is?
You’re right, Project Challenge!
This month my savvy friends and I have taken on the challenge to use screening. These projects are amazing, so I can’t wait for you to see them all.
I bet you’re wondering what I could possibly be using screening on this old ugly shelf for, huh?
Actually, when the challenge of screening was presented, the first thing I thought of was, of course, a window. But as I was contemplating my project, I remembered this old shelf I bought at the thrift store for 5 buckaroos.
I loved the shape of it and thought it would be a wonderful display shelf in my shop space, but it needed a backing of some sort.
It was obviously definitely in need of a good makeover…as you can see.
So I gave it a good sanding with my orbital sander (if you don’t have one of these and do a lot of projects, get one! I promise they save a LOT of time.)
And don’t worry, I sanded it in the garage. This image is just to show you what it looked like just before it got it’s fresh coat of paint.
😉
I gave it three coats of General Finishes Antique White , my favorite brand milk paint.
(Not an affiliate, just love their products!)
It’s a nice thick paint, but I have yet to find any white that I can just slap one coat on of, and have great coverage.
Next I spray painted my screen with a copper antique color I had on hand. It’s hard to see the difference in this pic, but it does make a difference.
I will let you know some tricks I found while doing this project, on how to iron out the creases in screening. But that will have to be in another post for time’s sake today, I will just say that it was quite the wrinkled sheet when I found it in the garage!
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Next I made a stencil with contact paper using my Silhouette, and stenciled the image onto the screening with some lamp black milk paint (also by General Finishes).
I was going to spray paint it, but I ran out of black at the last minute.
Sheesh!
For the love of ease. If anything can go wrong for me during a project, it just does….Murphy’s law.
Does that apply to anyone else?
Raise your hand!
While that was drying I kept applying new coats of paint onto my shelf.
When everything was good and dry, I distressed the shelf a bit and stapled the screening to the back of it, centering the lettering
and trimming the excess of the screening off the edges.
This shelf already had eye hooks in the back, so I hung it with wire I had in the garage all coiled up.
Turns out I like the way the wire looks.
Now I have a display for my sugar scrubs in the shop.
I love the way the lettering turned out too.
Guess that Murphy’s law isn’t so bad when project turns out so well.
😊
And.. I just had to show off my sweet shamrock plant that just loves it’s regular place in the kitchen window. I think it sets off the shelf just right with the jars of sugar scrubs. I will be sharing my recipe for those scrubs soon too, but for now…
Why don’t you go see all the amazing projects my friends came up with?!
Thank you for coming by today.
See you soon,
Shelstring 
I see little shelves like this all the time, but would've never thought to update one like this! I LOVE it! The use of screen is brilliant, and it gives it just the little pop of farmhouse or rustic styling that's so trendy right now. Pinned!
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This is really cute! Like Molly, I see these shelves (and think they are a little dated) all the time. This is a fantastic update! Really takes away that dated look.Did I use the word dated enough here?
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I love this update! I'll look at those shelves in a new way now 🙂 I need that sugar scrub recipe!
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Wow, what a great way to update the shelves! It really makes a beautiful display for the sugar scrubs.
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