Bookcase Makeover – Traditional Cherry To Farmhouse Fab!
I am sharing my step-by-step directions for giving an old cherry bookcase a farmhouse fab makeover.
Affiliate links have been used in the post. See my full disclosure HERE.
I usually don’t put an exclamation mark in my blog post title, but y’all – I am so stinkin’ thrilled with the bookcase makeover for our home office! A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I was working on the bookcases and was concerned with how they were going to turn out. Thankfully, I’m in love with the end result and find myself stopping often just to stare at them!
Did you notice that the dining room is striped bare of all its fall finery? That’s because Christmas is in the house! LOL I’ll be sharing my Christmas dining room soon!
To fully appreciate the change in the bookcase, take a look at the before picture. These are cheap-o bookcases that had a waxy, fake looking cherry stain on them. Their most redeeming quality is that the open shelves are solid wood, so they don’t sag under the weight of a lot of books.
Here they are today, after giving them a couple of coats of primer paint (to completely cover the red’ish stain) and brushing on gray stain. I used one of those cheap chip brushes to apply the stain and allowed it to dry without wiping any of the stain off. Primer paint used: Kilz 2 Latex Primer in Gray. Stain used: Rustoleum Ultimate Wood Stain in Weathered Gray.
This closeup shows the weathered looking finish that was created by brushing the stain on top of the wood and allowing it to dry without wiping it off.
I know that the gray of the barn door and gray of the bookcase doesn’t match, but I think that it makes the door look more authentic.
You might wonder why I chose to cover half of the bookcases with a sliding barn door. Well, it’s because I needed more storage space, not more space to display tchotchkes. The shelves behind the sliding door are filled with boxes that hold all sorts of home office paraphernalia. This side of the bookcase is only open when we need access to something in one of those storage boxes.
I was a little scared of the door, because I was convinced that installing the sliding door hardware was going to be complicated. Nothing could have been further from the truth! After much research and shopping around, we ordered the hardware from Home Depot. CLICK HERE TO ORDER THE SAME HARDWARE.
The smallest size available was a few inches longer than what we needed, so the hubs used our Dremel to cut the slider bar down to the correct length. I touched the end up with a black magic marker and now you’d never know that it had been cut.
We built the barn door out of pre-painted rustic lumber which is sold at Home Depot. Each piece of lumber was 8′ long and had a rabbited edge on each side. One rabbited edge faces the front and other faces in the back.
I was unable to find the lumber online, but our store had it in stock the last time that we were there.
Having those rabbited edges made building the door a dream! First, we determined how wide we wanted our door to be. Then the hubs laid the lumber out on the floor of our garage, using wood glue along each rabbited edge, and allowed it to thoroughly dry. No nails or screws were used in this part of building the door.
After the glue had dried, the door was cut to the length that we wanted and other boards were cut down to be used to frame out the top, sides and for a middle brace. Those boards were attached with wood glue and wood screws.
Thankfully, Home Depot had a label on the backside of each of the pieces of lumber with the paint formula that was used to paint the wood. I had a small container of that mixed at the store and used it to touch up the few places that needed it after the construction was completed. A wrought iron gate handle, also from Home Depot, finished the door off.
Unless I come up with something else, this office makeover only has one project left to do and that’s getting some artwork up on that wall behind the desk chair! You can catch up on all of the projects that have gone into this makeover, from start to finish, HERE. UPDATE! CHECK OUT THE FULL BEFORE AND AFTER OFFICE REVEAL HERE!
I absolutely LOVE the barn door bookcase! Can you share what grey exactly is on the actual door? I would love to try to make something similar!
Hi Larkin. If you’ll send an email to worthingcourblog@gmail.com, I’ll send you a photo of the paint label that has the formula on it.
Hello, I also love the grey on the barn door! Would you mind sending me a picture of the paint label as well?
Thank you!!!
Hi Lisa. Please send me a request to my email: worthingcourtblog@gmail.com and I’ll send it to you. I can’t post a picture in the comments.
Absolutely one of the very best ideas on the internet! LOVE THAT Barn Door look on the shelving!! Stunning.
This is the most incredible makeover I believe I have ever seen! The before and after would be unrecognizable is I had not seen the photos. You have inspired me and many others. Beautiful!
OMG I don’t know which I love more – the farmhouse doors or that desk!! Gorgeous
Love the bookcase makeover! I actually have a cherry bookcase in my den that looks very similar to yours. It matches my desk so I’d have to do that over too.
This is really pretty! I love the three plants on display on the top shelf. May I ask…where did you find them?
Hi Julie. All three of those plants came from Ikea and were only $5 each. I bought a bunch of them and use them all over my house! If you don’t have an Ikea near you, you can order them online. Here are links to some of the ones that I have in my house: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10375159/ AND http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90375155/ AND http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90382113/
Hi Suzy – I’m loving your office chair!! It looks like you have somehow upholstered a modern chair and made it look old. May I ask how you did that?
Hi Joanne. Actually, I haven’t done anything to the chair. It’s a very inexpensive chair that I ordered a couple of years ago – from Amazon, I think. It’s covered with an off white faux leather. Maybe it’s the nailheads that make it look old???
Thank you so much for getting back to me. Ahh very nice. It actually inspired me to do a search and I found some great ideas on how to upcycle office chairs to make them look old. Thanks again for your help. Jo
Hi Suzy,
I just found your blog and have to say what a beautiful room. Everything turned out amazing. I especially love you remodeled bookcase. What a great idea. It’s my favorite.
I signed up to receive future newsletters and look forward to your decorative ideas and special touches.
I’ve recently started transforming my house to French County. But being retired it’s a slow process. Being on a set income. Thanks so much for sharing.
Did you cover books in something to give them all the same feel or did you just turn them around?
This is one of the most fabulous ideas I have ever seen for those old dreary looking cherry bookcases I have!
I just spotted this on Pinterest-looks amazing! I have a couple of questions: does the weight of the barn door require you to secure the unit to the wall in fear of it tipping forward? Also, do you put the bottom of the door on a track or is that free-floating? Thanks!
Hi Susan. Yes, we added small angle irons that are attached to the top of the bookcases and to the wall to keep them secure. And no – with this type of door hardware, the door is just free floating. Hope this helps and I’m sorry for the delay in responding!
This is so beautiful!!! Thank you for sharing how you did it. I’m not sure I’m brave enough to try it but I’ll give it some serious though bc I’m in love!!! Great job!!
I love your office and your desk! Just purchased a desk that is almost identical. Can you share the paint type and colors that you used?
Thank you so much, Susan! I painted my desk the with the same product that I used for the base of my dining room table. You can read all about it in this post: https://www.worthingcourtblog.com/dining-room-finishing-touches/
Hi Susan !not sure how old this post is as I couldn’t find a date but hopefully you’ll get to see it! I’m about to start a project like this and just as your bookcase mine doesn’t have much clearance on the top and everyone is telling me that a barn door tracking can’t be installed and your proof that they are wrong!!! Can you please share how exactly did you install it without having as I said much room on top of your bookcase!? Thanks and what an inspiration you are! I was about to give up and resale the cabinet I just bought precisely for this project I have had in mind for a while and suddenly I came upon your post!
Hi Adrianna. We added a 2×4 that’s as long as the bookcases are wide and painted it to match the bookcase. The door hardware is attached to that. 😀