No-Sew Bookshelf Makeover

The awesome toddler table (more deets to come!) that now resides in our kitchen gets used alot.  Like several times an hour.  And because it's used so much and is so perfect for all the toddlersploring we do around here, it needed easy access to storage.  So I stole from my husband and gave to the kids.  (Does that make me Mom-inhood?)  There's a white bookshelf that has been living in the garage since we moved here.  But it was mine first, and formerly functioned as a pantry in my old condo.   To further grease the wheels, I agreed that Daddy definitely needed new garage shelves if I took these back ; )  So the tall white bookshelf, still lined with pantry-grade contact paper in some atrocious print, moved into the kitchen.  After removing said paper and cleaning up four years of garage grime, it got stocked with glue, pasta, art supplies, translucent toys, etc.  And just as any improvement project does, it fixed one problem and created another.

The stuff was readily accessible.  Too accessible.  Funny little grunts started up and I would turn to see one or both kids pointing up to some item they couldn't name but sooooo wanted.  Then it became a chorus of "this one!" repeated at increasing tempo and dynamic level until I went over and started picking things up one after the other ("Is it this one?   Orrrr this one?  How about thissss one?!?!").  Nope, not having that.  Plus, I didn't want to look at all the stuff either.  Remember my goal to lower expectations?  Seeing all that amazingly fun stuff waiting to be used doesn't help me feel good about myself or my mommying.  So I decided to cover it up.  (Which is coincidentally my fail-safe plan with other things I don't like seeing, namely bad hair, zits, and twin momma tummy.)

I found a great shower curtain at Tar-jhay that matches my kitchen walls and then I also picked up the smallest spring loaded tension rod they had.  The bookshelf is shorter than a standard shower rod, so instead of shower rings I used 1" ring binder clips (and it still puddled on the floor).  The clips function just as well, were cheaper, helped with the length problem, and can be repurposed when I'm done with the curtain.

At this point I lived with it for a week.  To see if the curtain really helped.  Not only did it help, it looked good!  So I thought about just leaving it as is.  (But toddler feet tripping on the puddling...)  Then I thought about just safety pinning the hem.  (And then I thought about mommy's snack crumbs craft supplies getting lost in the hem.)  So I undid the clips, washed/dried the curtain as directed, and got ready to hem four inches off the bottom of the curtain with some no-sew Heat 'n Bond adhesive tape.   (Full disclaimer:  I dried on higher heat than directed, intentionally.)  When I rehung the curtain for my final hemming measurements I got to do a happy dance around the kitchen.  It was the exact perfect length.  No lie, four inches gone.  Poof!  All that was needed was some ironing and a few well-placed bits of velcro on the sides of the curtain and bookcase (to help it stay shut when the shelf is on lockdown).  The ironing lengthened the curtain by about an inch, but it doesn't puddle on the floor so I'm leaving well enough alone.  And enjoying my drab-to-fab bookshelf makeover on the cheap!