Remember when Ebay was new and cool? Remember when you were a young 20 year old wanting to show the world that you were a savvy internet shopper? Everybody needs a story of a deal they bought crazy cheap on Ebay (to date I still don't have one). So you decided to get this rad piece here?
What? No? That was just me? Well don't laugh (to hard). This was still super cool to a poor style confused newly(ish) wed girl.
I blame uninformed purchases like this one for the major skepticism I got from Señor Hotness midway through all of my earlier refinishing projects. The first bit of redo skepticism I received was ironically when I decided that the forest green and red barns on this little shelf was just a little bit more country bumpkin than I was wanting. Also again it was something I had had for years, and if I ruined it, it wouldn't be any great loss. More than that though I needed someplace pretty to hang our keys, and the pegs on this shelf were small enough to be able to hang even smallest of key rings.
Let me just say that I am a firm believer of having a place to hang your keys. I won't get into too many details on the circumstances surrounding my adopting this way of thinking. Let me just say that it involved me locking myself out of the house...with the TV remote control (instead of my cell phone)...with a child I was babysitting (before I had my own)...when I needed to go pick up Señor Hotness from work for his dinner break. Not that that oddly specific rundown ever happened to me or anything, but after a few experiences like this and anyone can become a key hook convert.
So I had a few options. I could look around to try to find a key hook from the store. Those usually have teeny hooks that aren't very sturdy. They don't usually hold many sets of keys, and because I don't believe in carrying around the equivalent to a mill stone in key weight I usually separate out the keys I don't use on a daily basis. Also it needed to be able to endure the weigh of a small child...because mine are naughty and might try hanging on the lanyard I use for my car keys. Don't ask why I use a lanyard...it definitely has nothing to do with locking us out of our car two hours from home (or the nearest spare key) in one of the worse thunder storms I've ever seen.
Okay so I say I'm a cheapskate all the time, but frugality is often born of necessity when you are part of a family of seven functioning off of a single income. It probably helped to have already had this mindset since I also grew up in a larger family. Finding a deal and saving a mint on things is crazy addicting. The more I can save by being frugal means more money we have for family fun. It also means I get to do more since I didn't blow my entire DIY budget on one stinking project. Therefore I believe that budget refurbishing is not only fun, but a smart thing for everyone. It has become a game to see how inexpensively I can remake things. Its almost like finding a jewel in something that was completely ordinary before. Which brings us to my ugly old shelf. Which was the perfect thing for my key storage problem, and this ugly dated shelf was way past due to find its inner sparkle. The only thing in my way was a heavy dose of self doubt. I had never even bought spray paint let alone used it, but I was going to make it work.
When I did this it didn't even occur to me to take pictures of it. So, I'm sorry this will be really light on the pictures. So the first thing I did was clean it really good, and then allow it to completely dry. Then I took it outside and coated it with Kilz oil based spray primer. When I did this step I skipped the light sand in-between simply because I didn't know it needed one. In all honesty you could skip this step, but it will effect the smoothness of your final finish. The next step was the spray paint. I used Krylon Blue Ocean Breeze in a gloss finish. Then I allowed that to dry for a few hours. Then I came back out, and lightly dry brushed it with Krylon Leather. When that was done it was time to address the ugly barn area. I was really loving the blue, red, dark brown at the time so I pulled out my trusty book of damask craft paper I had gotten on the cheap at Hobby Lobby. Then I made some DIY modge podge I found a recipe for on Pinterest. Also a first time modge podging anything. This was the final result.
This is what it looked like being newly finished and hung on the wall in the "trashy trailer".
This is it at our current house. Its taking a break from the wall because I'm painting it right now...the wall that is.
I loved how it turned out. I didn't put a clear coat on this, and it has held up really nicely. It is still hanging out by our front door, and still diligently holding up our keys. Bringing beauty and disorder where there was none before. At the end of the day I am so glad that I decided to save myself the time and trouble of trying to find a new solution for our keys, and decided to find the closeted coolness that was lurking inside this little shelf all along.
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