Bookshelf Makeover

I've been contemplating painting the back wall of our built-in bookshelf for a while, and after seeing this post on one of my favorite blogs, I knew it was time. I really wasn't in the mood to paint yesterday, so I scoured our house for wallpaper or contact paper to no avail. I swear I have some somewhere, but it was apparently not in the cards. So I grabbed my paintbrush and some leftover yellow paint from a previous project. This was seriously the easiest paint job I've ever completed. No tape, no rollers, just a small paint brush. I even let Taliila, my 2 yr. old, help. Here's what it looked like before. And, yes, I still have some Christmas decorations up.

Okay, see how it's kind of boring? And a bit cluttered. This is our only real bookshelf in the house, so I wanted to make it count, yet not go overboard. I started by taking everything off the shelves and stacking all the books into piles. I actually had three piles going: The first pile had books I definitely wanted back on the shelf. The second, books that I was okay with either staying or going. And the third pile had books that could be stored somewhere else. 

 I did the same with accessories, but was a little more open-minded about what went back on the shelf based on what would fit. Next, I got to work painting. Side note:  I love Purdy brushes, and am not getting paid to endorse them, but they're seriously the only paint medium I fork over money for. Cheaper brushes tend to lose their hair as you're painting. This drives me bonkers. I've yet to have any problems with my Purdy brush and everything goes on pretty smooth. I'm also able to edge without tape pretty easily with an angled brush.

 I'm not crazy about the shade of yellow at this point, but decided to wait it out till I restocked the shelves. After I started, the color grew on me a little. I did something different with the books I chose, arranging them according to colors. I kind of wish I had a more colorful selection of books, but I wanted them to be books that were meaningful to me, not just for decoration. A couple tips I've picked up along the way are to bring books towards the front of the shelves. You don't necessary need to push books all the way to the back for them to stand up properly, and by bringing them forward a bit they'll all line up at the binding giving a more uniform look. Another tip is groupings. Stack books both horizontally and vertically for maximum visual interest. I've even seen people turn books to where all the pages are facing out and the bindings are against the wall. Just something different. I used some sentimental pieces for bookends- a henna-painted lantern from Morocco, milk glass from an older woman I used to take care of, a coffee pot from Ethiopia, and a wood drum I made in a college wood shop class to name a few.

I took the missions style chair out and switched it with the wing back from our family room (we've had a super hard time finding the right chair to fit in our awkward family room). I also finally took down the last of the Christmas decorations-my mom's chili pepper lights. Tear. I could be okay with leaving them up all. year. round... they're just so cozy. But alas, here's the final result in its context. Our tiny, not-so-boring bookshelf in our dining room. Do you have bookshelves you've painted? I'd love to see them. 

Goodbye Squirrel Hill

It's official. My space has been rented out (a tanning salon is moving in), and I have to be completely moved out by the end of January. I wanted to post on what's left at the shop, there's a few big pieces of furniture and store fixtures we're selling. Remember that wall of lighting? Well, it's all SUPER discounted. So even if you don't need a new light fixture now, you should probably buy one since you'll never find a high end light fixture at this low of a price again. Most of the lights are Hinkley and Framburg.  We're also selling the wall unit that holds the lights. There are three paneled doors that open to an electrical strip behind each slit. See picture below for sale prices.

And The Golden Globe Goes To...

 Inspired by the Golden Globes tonight, I decided to switch it up and create a video of the space at the church so you can see a more dimensional view of the furniture we have in. This may or may not be the most boring video you've ever seen, depending on your patience level or your desperation for furniture. I'm sure you can't wait to click on it now. As an alternative to my shaky, home video, I did update each category on the left with pictures and prices of the majority of the new stuff we got in. The choice is all yours.

I've also been updating our Facebook page with times I'm already at the shop for appointments just in case you've been wanting to stop in and have the time. So if you haven't already liked our page, hop on over to that link, click like, and hopefully our notifications will pop up on your newsfeed ( I promise I don't spam it with constant updates!).
If you're new to this blog, hi, welcome! A quick recap of ReDesigNation: we're a (re)used furniture store that started in June of 2011 in a storefront in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Squirrel Hill.  The start up of this store combines a few of my passions, you can click on the about me section of this blog for more info on that. In February of 2012, my husband and I purchased an old church in Wilkinsburg, as talked about here and here, really for a multitude of reasons, but I'll break it down into one- we needed a building for my store, and a garage to accommodate his landscaping business. The church was an awesome opportunity to take something old and refit it into something new. Which honestly lends itself a lot better to selling (re)purposed furniture than a brand new storefront, plus its like twice the size! With A LOT of love, we restored the main floor and turned it into a showroom for furniture. Instead of me keeping store hours, I've been listing everything online and grouping appointments together for those interested in purchasing furniture (this has allowed me that precious time needed with this little girl).

We went to Greenville, SC to visit a friend. 

What we didn't realize we'd do with the space at first was also be able to use it for community outreaches. We've been able to successfully host a baby shower, a men's group, and soon a co-ed study group will meet there weekly as well. I feel like I'm totally keeping in theme of the whole Golden Globe thing with this speech... yada yada yada, but most importantly, I'd like to thank all of you, my faithful readers and buyers who've made this girl's dreams come true. No seriously, thank you for supporting us, and therefore allowing us to support others. It means a lot, and the year of 2012 was truly a humbling, yet blessed year. Here's to 2013!