Roadside Rescue

I have a confession for all of you:

I am a curbside looky-loo.  'What's that?' you ask? It's a breed of person that slows down their vehicle, possibly holding up traffic, just to see if there's something good on that curb full of unwanted items.  I do this to find a great project for the most part, but often it's because I know that sometimes trash is just treasure waiting for a coat of paint.  I consider it my duty to the Earth to roadside rescue and save those items from the landfill.  I found a great curbside rescue and wanted to polish it up and take it a step further.

We live near a college town which means that every August, people move out of the apartments nearby to head back to college life.  And that means they throw stuff away... I mean, a lot of stuff.  I found this bookcase on the curb around the corner and knew that this piece had potential.  I HAD TO SAVE IT FROM THE LANDFILL.

It was dusty and in need of some love.  I said supportive, nurturing things to it and then I gave it a wash-down to clean it up a bit.  Once that was done, I scoured Pinterest for inspiration and got to work.  I had grand plans for this project, so I had the husband drill two holes in the top.

After that came the priming and painting.  A quick trip to the hardware store for some paint and supplies and I started the sanding and priming.  With laminate furniture like this, priming is essential.

That's my best side, right there.  I painted the outside white and the inside blue.  Well, not just blue... the prettiest blue in the whole world. 

Once the paint dried (I'm so patient in every area of life except when I'm waiting on paint to dry and then I'm like a kid at 3am on Christmas morning) I installed the lights where the hubs drilled those holes up top.

These lights are so simple... they have a four-foot cord that we plugged into a timer.  We just popped them into the drilled holes and secured them.  No wiring or anything tricky! 

I put the freshly painted shelves back in my beautiful bookcase and I stood back.  And I panicked.

I have nothing beautiful to put in this wonderfully re-done piece.  And I don't want to spend a lot of money to decorate it.  What's a resourceful gal, who wants to rescue more castaways, to do?

She hits the thrift stores.  I found these pieces that I just knew I could turn into something great.

I filled in the bookcase with my Goodwill rescues and some thrift store items that just needed some cleaning, like this little lovely jar, the marbles inside, and the glass bowl behind it:

Here's a shelf-by-shelf replay for you:

In the end, I had a roadside rescue that my husband thinks is my best project yet.  And you know something? I do too. :)

I link up at these great parties!