THE ALTERED FLEA: June 2015

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

With Enough Coffee, I Could Rule the World

THE PROJECT

This bookcase/shelving unit has held many things over the last 25 years including children's books, dolls and teddy bears, school work, sport trophies, prom photos and finally some craft supplies. I relocated my craft supplies, and saw this unit's great potential to be more than just a utilitarian bookcase.

With that being said, I poured myself a cup of coffee

and went to work on transforming this boring bookcase/shelving

unit into a one-stop coffee bar.

THE PAINT

I chose to work with Americana Decor Chalky Finish paint in three of their great selection of colors: "Timeless," which looks like light mocha, "Heritage," a beautiful and bright shade of orange [this project begged for a pop of color!], and Carbon for the graphics.

After two coats of "Timeless" dried (which was very quick), I marked three sections of stripes, one wide and two narrow ones. I followed the lines across the top and down both sides of the unit.

I painted the wide center space with "Heritage" and then using the dry-brush method, lightly painted the two outer stripes. I also used a wet paper towel to remove some more paint until I achieved the look I wanted.

And then came the fun part: peeling away the tape. I achieve the crispest lines when the paint is still wet as long as the tape is lifted off slowly.

Ahhhhh...perfection.

Coffee Quote: Today’s To Do: 1. Get up 2....

THE STENCIL

After months and months of a love-hate relationship with my Silhouette Cameo, I finally mastered the art of creating a stencil. I created an original "S.F. Coffee Roasting Company" logo.

Voila!

I varnished the entire piece with Americana Decor Light Satin Varnish. It went on smooth as silk and dried to a nice matte sheen.

THE HARDWARE

I scoured at least five stores for just the right hooks for my coffee bar. I found the perfect ones on a ready-to-hang wood bar. I unscrewed the hooks and re-attached them onto the top front of my coffee bar.

I lined the shelves with bright orange paper, and added two long drawer pulls, which I found at Home Depot, to each side of the bar to hold dishtowels. I got lucky with finding towels that coordinated perfectly with my coffee bar.