Gold Bookcase Ikea Hack

I love my living room, but there are definitely some problem areas. Take, for example, this area-

The toys live underneath the console and are always an eye sore. The books are too tall to sit on the shelf and the top was a magnet for clutter. I’ve known for a long time that I wanted shelves here and finally bit the bullet! I shopped online for hours but never really found something that I loved. So I decided to DIY a bookcase!

DIY gold bookcase IKEA Hack

First off, I bought a $79 Vittsjo bookcase from Ikea. It comes in a black metal with clear glass shelves:

The size was perfect, but the finish was not. I wanted the frame to be gold and the glass to have a marble look.

marbled shelves

For the glass, I wanted to update it since I really don’t love that you can always see finger prints and dust. So I decided to also cover it with the marble contact paper for $12 (I needed 2 rolls). I figured that covering the glass would make it more child friendly.

The contact paper was a bit of a paint to put on. But I figured a solution, so I wanted to show you what I did.

I’d prop the glass shelf up on my sofa and get the end started really well. Then I’d peel a little of the backing paper off and squeegie it down and I got virtually zero air bubbles this way! I cut the contact paper a little big and then would trim it when I was done. I covered both sides of the glass with the contact paper.

gold frame

To make the frame of the bookcase gold, I used Rub ‘n Buff which is $7 on Amazon. I needed 3 bottles of it. Another option that is probably easier would be to spray paint your shelf gold (this gold spray paint is my favorite for $3). Since it was too cold outside to spray paint, I went with the Rub ‘n Buff.

This is a new product for me, but I really liked it! It is definitely made for small projects, but I made it work. What you do is put a drop on of the paint on and then rub it in with your finger until you have a soft finish. You get a burnished look that is really pretty. It did take a long time for me to paint the whole thing gold though!

after

I am so, so happy with how it turned out! It’s the perfect focal point for the room! One of my favorite parts is that I organized Don’s toys into $7 Kuggis plastic bins from Ikea. The toys are hidden, but still easy to get to.

I, of course, had to get it all decorated for Christmas!

Isn’t the marble looking shelf pretty?!

And I am in love with these acrylic and pink trays (also from Amazon). Here’s the link to the large tray and the small one. They come in a bunch of different colors too!

This shelves holds my Christmas village. I made it a few years ago on a budget- here’s the link to the tutorial.

The top shelf holds my vintage store Nativity. Nice and high- away from my little two year old.

Up top I have my nutcrackers from Smith’s and the “Let it Snow” garland that I got from West Elm last year (they make a new version every year and this year’s garland is pretty cute!.

One last look at this pretty shelf! I added pink paper star lanterns around the living room this year and I love them! Anything to bring in more pink and they really make it feel special in here.

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Update- I moved these shelves into my new home and love how they’re looking! I thought you might like to see them in a second (non holiday decorated) space-