COASTAL DISPLAY SHELF

Finding a shelf for my bathroom proved to be a bigger problem then I thought it would be.  I wanted a shelf that was narrow and long and had plenty of room to hold pretty stuff.  I finally found one when my friend Judy was visiting and we were poking around in stores in Bentonville, Arkansas.   It was an ugly little thing and needed some TLC, but now it looks much happier.

This little shelf holds some items that I dearly love, including a few items that were made and sent to me from another blogger.  More on that in a few minutes, but first, let me show you what this shelf looked like when I bought it.  

I couldn't decide if someone had tried to distress it or if they had dropped it several times or maybe both.  It was extremely wobbly and very chipped up.  When I decided to take it apart, I discovered that it had been assembled wrong in the first place which was why it was so wobbly.  Easy enough to fix.  
This shelf was going up on a white wall in my bathroom so I decided to give it a little paint.  When I disassembled it, I realized that there were a lot of little parts to this shelf.

I decided to use some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint on this project.  (I have no idea how to make the trademark symbol in blogger, if you do, please let me know.)

I used Annie Sloan Pure White and Provence.  I found that little bathroom cups work quite nicely to hold small spindles and spindle caps for painting.  

Better already don't you think?  I gave it all a coat of Miss Mustard Seed's Clear Wax and put it all back together.

Now remember I said I had received a few gifts from a blogger?  Perhaps you already know Amy from Stow and Tell U.  She's a gem and lives near my hometown in Illinois.  She made some of these very cool Mason jars covered with fishnet.

Decorative Fisherman Netting Wrapped Jars

You can see how she made them by clicking on the link below the picture.  I fell in love with these when she posted them and they were on my "to do" project list.  I couldn't believe that she sent me three of them.  Two of them you'll see here in this post and the other lives in my beach themed bedroom which I'm saving for another post.  She also sent me this really pretty soap that was made to look like beach glass.  It smells divine!  She picked it up on her trip to the East Coast.  A trip that I too hope to make some day. 

Here is the info on the box, just in case you want to check out their website.

Thank you Amy for thinking of me while you were on your trip and for sending me those cool mason jars made by you!  I knew when I opened that box, that I would want to use these things in my new bathroom, but at that time, I still hadn't found my shelf.  However, they have a new home now!

I love this little display shelf and it looks especially cool at night, casting lovely shadow on my new bathroom wall.....

I'm such a candle freak!  I have an entire candle cabinet.  Maybe I should give that a makeover next.

Thank you again Amy for the lovely jars and the wonderful looking beach glass soap!  You are such a dear friend.  
If you would like to see a quick overview of Amy's great projects, just check out her Project Gallery.  She is one creative and talented blogger for sure!