Transformation Tuesday-Using Chalk Paint to Update a Shelf

Happy Tuesday! My plan was to post before and after photos of the different rooms in our home for my Transformation Tuesdays. Don’t worry, I will still do that, but I would eventually run out of rooms as the weeks went on. After finishing a recent DIY project, I was inspired to post befores and afters of the DIYs I complete in addition to the room photos. Hooray for DIYs added to Transformation Tuesdays!

Currently, we are updating our guest bathroom. We knew we wanted some type of storage above the toilet, as the toilet is set back in its own little cubby-type area. We went back and forth about just buying this boring cabinet/shelf from Target. How simple that would be. I, of course, felt like the bathroom needed that ‘refinished/distressed DIY look’ instead. (go figure!) As I was on another browsing adventure, I stumbled across a really charming shelf with 3 hooks along the bottom. Note: I didn’t actually stumble, but if I did, that wouldn’t be surprising. Anyway, it was so cute sitting there, calling my name. There was one problem. It was green. There was no way it was going to match our bathroom. PERFECT! I had a new project staring right at me. I put it in my cart, text a picture of it to my husband, and pretty much bought it before he replied. He is great and never cares what I buy. Probably because I am so good at our budgeting. This is what the shelf looked like when I bought it:

It is super cute as is, right? Well, if you know me, I cannot leave well enough alone. I spent about 3 hours altogether updating it to achieve the look I wanted. That’s not bad considering I used 3 coats of paint and a wax in the process. Here is the end result, or should I say,
The Transformation:

I added the wooden applique last minute!

So, what do you think!? Did you like this transformation? As I said, the shelf was really cute originally, it just didn’t match our color scheme. I had to change it! I’d love to hear about your adventures in painting/transforming pieces. Leave your stories in the comment section below.

If you would like to see photos of the entire process, or you would like a full step by step tutorial on how to use chalk paint to update and then distress a piece of furniture, click here!

Have a happy Tuesday!