How to instantly brighten a book shelf

As I was cleaning my foyer the other day, I took a good look at our little nature center which is just a simple desk/shelf unit that I bought 30 years ago.  It works well in the foyer and we frequently refer to the nature books it holds.

You already know I am prone to pick up a paintbrush and change something in my house if I’m tired of it.  But today, I thought I would do something else.  I decided to instantly brighten a bookshelf with wallpaper.

Now, due to an unfortunate experience with wallpaper back in 2003, I promised myself I would never touch wallpaper again.  But this was different.  This was removable wallpaper! How hard could it be?

I found a grasscloth-ish (looks like grasscloth but is vinyl) removable wallpaper at Walmart in the hardware section. While shopping, I was really looking for contact paper to put in my bathroom cabinets and found this by accident.  Contact paper, by the way, is in the kitchen section.  You’re welcome.

 

 

 

While working on one section at a time,  I measured each section of the back and cut a piece for that section a little larger than I needed on all sides.  I was careful to cut the pieces straight because the grasscloth pattern creates what looks like lines from a distance.  I peeled off half of the top left section of the paper and lined it up with the top left section of the back of the bookshelf.  Then I slowly peeled off the rest of the backing while smoothing the wallpaper down.

Once all of the backing was off, I smoothed out any bubbles and pressed the paper into the corners.  I used an Exacto knife to carefully cut along the corners and remove all of the excess paper.  I struggled with a few of the pieces but was able to remove and replace the same piece several times without losing any of the adhesive.  I was happy with the results and it only took me about half an hour to do the whole thing.

See how the lighter background shows off our books and a few family treasures and I didn’t have to pull out a paintbrush.

You’ll notice that I also rearranged some of the books and items for a more pleasing and organized arrangement.  We use these books a lot, so I like to have most of the similar topics together.