Spruce Up Your Built-in Book Shelves With A Fabric Backdrop

Spruce Up Your Built-in Book Shelves 

With A Fabric Backdrop

contributed by Honey We're Home

 In case you missed my guest post last week at Serenity Now, I’m sharing with you today.  I recently did a little more sprucing to the sitting room in the master bedroom by lining the back of the built-in bookshelves with fabric, using starch.  {I first heard of this when I saw Stephanie at Crea8tive Designs’ pantry}

Our sitting room is just off the bedroom and the bookshelves are on the far right wall.

A nice feature, for sure, but kind of bland as-is.  So, I started by scouring the fabric stores and found the perfect pretty floral print.  *swoon*

I decided to paint the back and sides of the bookcase a shade darker than the room to give the fabric a nice color to sit next to.  Rumor has it that after the fabric is applied, it is easily removable without damaging the walls.  If I ever tire of the fabric, the entire bookcase is already painted.

The most challenging part of this project was cutting the fabric to the exact width and length of the walls.  I realized my bookshelves were the same height, but the one on the left was considerably wider.  I cut my fabric into one giant piece before affixing the top corners to the wall with command strips. 

Then I used Sta-Flo liquid starch and a kitchen sponge to apply the starch directly on top of my fabric, really saturating it as I went.  I used a wallpaper straightener to stretch the fabric to the end of the shelves.
  

Even though I didn’t encounter any air bubbles while applying, be sure to smooth the fabric down with the straightener because the next day I did have a few.

Then I simply inserted the shelves back in (using one less than was there before to make room for some large photos I wanted to display).

I’m still adjusting the shelf heights and need to accessorize them, but here is a sneak peek.

**********