Jazz up your old shelves

Transform a plain shelving unit into a stylish hall stand

Many of us are sure to have old, slightly battered items languishing in our basements, too good to throw away. Upcycling is the perfect solution! We show you how to turn an old set of wall shelves into a stylish hall stand with neon-coloured touches. The new look is all thanks to edding permanent spray. Any existing scratches will disappear in next to no time once they’re sprayed. When you’re ready to hang the shelves, the carpenter pen provides valuable assistance – it’s an essential part of any toolkit. If you’ve not come across it before, you really should give it a try. Its extra-long metal nib makes it easy to reach difficult-to-access places. Co-ordinating hooks made from old wooden building blocks are not only practical, they also make a real eye-catcher.

Categories: Home decor
Upcycling ideas
Products: Permanent spray
Special solutions
Materials: Metal
Wood
Difficulty: Easy peasy
Downloads: Images (ZIP)

Step-by-step

Step 1

You can see everything you need in this photo. For spraying, you’ll need edding 5200 permanent spray in a spray colour of your choice. In our example, we’ve used neon yellow (965), pastel pink (914) and mild mint (928), plus the edding 8850 carpenter pen.

Step 2

First, wipe over the metal brackets and shelf supports using the cloth.

Step 3

Before you spray, make sure your work area is well protected by covering it with film or paper. In our Spray basics section, we’ve got important tips to help you achieve the perfect spraying technique. We recommend you spray at a distance of approx. 25 cm in a criss-cross motion to ensure as even coverage as possible. It’s now time to spray on the neon yellow. Let each part dry thoroughly afterwards.

Step 4

If your shelving unit has several shelves, it looks particularly good if each shelving bracket is sprayed in a different colour. We’ve used pastel pink here. Let each part dry thoroughly.

Step 5

Once the paint is completely dry, it’s time to hang the shelves. Our handy carpenter pen makes it easy to mark the drill holes. Its extra-long nib makes light work of those hard-to-reach areas.

Step 6

You can also decorate hooks made from old wooden building blocks in co-ordinating colours. Before painting, create fixings by simply drilling a hole and inserting a screw.

Step 7

Here you can see the brightly coloured coat hooks. If you only want to paint part of the coat hook, carefully apply masking tape to the other part of it. We’ve used mild mint in this example.