We have a massive list of projects to tackle around here, most of which involve building at least one piece of furniture. So when I suggested to my ever-patient husband that we tackle two items on my living room to-do list without building or buying anything. He was all for it!
I built the red painter’s ladder shelf about a year and a half ago. The red looked great in my old house, but didn’t work at all for my new living room. I knew I wanted to refinish it and decided to knock out two birds with one stone and make it the side table between the two couches.
My homemade curtains are light with a fun pattern. Our walls are a light yellow/beige and the carpet is a light neutral brown. Our couches are dark brown leather and I know the exact kind of stain I want to use on the bigger pieces of furniture we will eventually build {also dark}. I figured if I wanted a chance to pretend to be bold and unafraid of color, the ladder shelf was my chance!
And bold it was! I liked it, it’s my favorite color, but I’m not sure we’re the kind of people that could pull off a bright green piece of furniture. So I decided to tone it down a bit with an antique white whitewash.
I took probably less than a tablespoon total of watered down Behr Antique White {leftover from another project} dabbed any excess onto the paper towel and then lightly brushed the whole shelf. The results were awesome. I get a strikingly colored piece of furniture without having to wear sunglasses in the house. 
Best part? The whole thing cost me $3.99. I already had the shelf, brushes, whitewash paint & polyurethane….I bought a tester quart of the green at my local hardware store and have about 2/3 of that left in case I ever want to paint anything ‘turtle shell’ green again!
I love it, it’s fun and functional. What do you think? Have you ever painted something a brighter-than-’normal’ color and wondered what on earth you’d just done?!?
I know right around this point, I did!!
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Orange Eucalyptus Tea Tree Soap 
You know, I had two of those types of shelves. They were dark brown and weren’t really working for me, so I gave them away. Now I wish I had kept them and painted them.! I don’t know why I didn’t think of it.
The green looks great! Fun and whimsical
lol, thank you! I wouldn’t have thought to paint them two or three years ago either, so don’t feel bad.
I love the shade of green you picked–it’s so cheery!! And Ana White is my hero; her stuff is awesome. By the way, may I ask what program you used to create your pinboard images?? Thanks for sharing!!!
Hi Kate,
Isn’t Ana the bomb?? I don’t exaggerate when I say she changed my life! I can look all over my house to see the beautiful things my husband and I have built for a fraction of the cost of buying them, it thrills me!
I actually use PicMonkey to edit the photos, do the arrows & borders etc. http://www.picmonkey.com/ but I use Powerpoint to make the images. I actually got the idea from Ana! http://ana-white.com/2012/03/alaskalife/power-points
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. Have a great weekend!
I love the new green color and the fact that you built the shelves yourself! I love that design and need to check out Ana’s plans. Thanks for linking up.
Featuring this post on my Show & Tell superstars pinterest board!
Wow, thanks Tisha!! That was unexpected.