Bookcase in progress

You might remember that I splurdged on an Etsy bookcase a few months ago and that I had said I would paint the ugly coloured door another colour. Well, It's finally happened! Only 3 months later! It's a november miracle! Nothing like going away for a week to get you to do the stuff you've been putting off for months. Does anybody else find that? 

Anyhoo. This is what we started with: 

A hot mess of duck egg, aubergine and teal. Not my favourite colors. Give me grey and white and pale yellow any day of the week. It's a real shame the doors couldn't be sanded down and varnished in the original wood colour but I couldn't really see that working out now that it's 5 degrees outside and raining most days so I decided to give them my next best "fresh new look" treatment: white paint.

Then something else happened: I g̶o̶t̶ ̶l̶a̶z̶y̶ thought the end result might look better if I painted the entire doors and not just the squares. Also, it took me about 15 mins just to tape off the first square. As one of my former colleagues (a marketing executive, not that I'm biased at all) explained to me once after asking me to translate something even though she spoke English 'fluently', this "just isn't the best use of my time". So after a little ripping off of tape and wiping down, I was ready to go!

I'm not sure how many coats of paint it took in the end, let's just say I need to thank Netflix and Modern Family for entertaining me so well during this process. 

It looks less striking than it did in my mind, but still lots better than before.

For some reason the doors won't quite line up now that they're back on. I've tried tweaking the screws a bit and will have to try some more to get them perfect again. I also need to find a better place for those blue containers, and a pretty box for storing tourist brochures. It's all part of the plan. Remember this only a "progress" post!

A random picture of flowers, because I've got a fancy camera now and need to practice. This is my attempt at getting the manual settings right. Some stuff is in focus and other stuff is fashionably blurry. Success!

The whole bookcase is looking a bit too busy for me so I'm considering getting some grey toned mod-y fabric to hang behind the glass, that way the white doors won't look so out of place. It will also hide the books and protect them from the light. Bonus!

I've been spending far too much time on spoonflower searching for the perfect print. What do you think? Today my favourite is number 2, but I'm worried that it's the safe and boring option and I'll tire of it (here are 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6).

Tell me your favourite! In the meantime I'll be busy adjusting screws and getting things to line up nicely. Wish me luck!