Adding Texture

Lately I've been seeing grass cloth all over. It intrigues me. So the other day I was at Walmart, and I spied this:

It's contact paper, typically used for lining shelves, but it was the perfect color and texture of "grass cloth" (just super cushy and soft). So I grabbed a few rolls and also swung through the hardware isle and picked up a few packs of the small Command Strips. 

picture from www.comand.com 

Then I attacked my bookshelves. I removed all the books and knick-knacks from the shelves, dusted them  and then measured the size of the back of each shelf. Working one by one, I measured the contact paper and cut it out to size.  Then, once I had the sheet of contact paper cut to size, I slapped one little Command Strip on each of the corners. Then I tacked it up to the back of the shelf. 

What I really liked about the paper is that it actually helped hide the little lines that run down the middle of the shelf backs, since these were fairly cheap bookshelves from Target roughly ten years ago. They are starting to show their age, so I had thought a little paint might revive them, until I stumbled upon this idea. It's definitely not long-term, but for the short term, it's a nice little touch. 

I really need to get a better camera. And take some photography lessons.  I actually dropped my camera while taking snapshots of this project. I'm afraid my camera is not too happy with me anymore and it doesn't like to focus now... as you can see from the photo below.  Le sigh. Looks like I'll be taking pictures with my i-phone until I can replace the camera!

But I'm including this photo since it's the only one I took of the shelves showing one completed and one not completed.... it's important to note that at this point I got lazy. Once I loaded up the completed shelf with the books, I started doing one shelf at a time. Remove the books, paper the back, place the books back; do the same with the next shelf. It kept the mess a little more contained. Finally, I was done! 

As you can probably see in the first picture, the books cover up most of my hard work (boooo!) but when you see them in person it looks a little bit more classy than the cheap backs that were showing previously. All in all, not bad for $15 worth of supplies and an hour's worth of time.