We've all seen flat walls painted in an accent color, right? Well, I want to do something similar with a wall of built-in bookshelves in the living room. But my husband's not convinced. This gallery serves as a little inspiration for you and I, and hopefully as a way to make my husband see the light:
• 1 Via Bliss, we love how this dark green paint on the shelves turns this room into a library.
• 2 Darker is even better in this room by Todd Alexander Romano Designs
• 3 True, this image from DecorPad is in a kitchen, but the moodiness of that gray is perfect.
• 4 Dramatic with black in a library by Jonathan Adler, featured in Domino.
• 5 Compromise just might be the name of the game here, with dark-painted shelf backs only. This example is via Houzz.
I should note, our shelves are already painted, but they're plain old white. A pair of glass-paned doors is located right in the middle of it all. I think a dark color would serve to anchor the shelves and doors as a real focus in the room. I may not get my way, though, and am looking here for a little guidance!
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I have a major obsession with the painted built-in shelves in this apartment (from Mad Men): http://positdesign.com/2010/08/dgr-rejected/
I really dig #1.
I like #2, despite the "mid-century" style furniture that I despise ... I would just ditch the zebra print rug.
I also like the kitchen, despite it's dreariness. Perhaps some under-shelf lighting would counter that a bit.
#2 has been in my inspiration file for a couple years - I don't know if it's the color combination or the traditional architecture, but that room just works for me.
Great looking bookshelves are always an important focal point in a room. One of the best was in a favorite decorating book: Flip! For Decorating by Elizabeth Mayhew. See the link below for great tips on designing a bookcase and her best example.
The Designer Insider
http://bit.ly/cmPqE3
I like the gray one, though I don't think it's technically a bookshelf. Of course, having china in complimentary colors always helps!
I love the warmness of natural wood and would have a hard time painting over it, but since yours are already painted I say go for it!
Personally, I painted my built in floor to ceiling booksheves in a gloss white. The books provide plenty of color and I like the airiness of the white shelves.
Are yours built-in or free standing? I think that might make a difference. I like built-ins painted the wall or the trim color of the room. I have mixed feelings about painted free-standing shelves, but I'd tend to make those a separate color that works with the other furnishings. (If they aren't a nice wood tone to begin with...)
Once you paint the shelves, do you put a finish (ie. polyurethane) over the paint?
Yes, remember to seal the shelves or make sure that you don't use a paint that sticks to paper. Anything that gets slightly soft when it warms up will be a disaster. Trust me on this one - I speak from personal experience.
No more painted shelves for me for this reason.
Any good tutorials for this?