Painted Media Cabinet & Bookshelf Styling

Painting the back of our media cabinet was one of the first projects I tackled when we moved into this house over three years ago.  I chose Jamestown Blue and painted the cabinets mostly while my then 4 month-old slept.  It's a pretty calming blue that worked well for a long time, but I was ready for a change- to dark gray.  I considered having the whole cabinet painted, but the quote was too high and I'm not confident enough in my painting skills to tackle such a big focal piece in our home by myself.  But, I can handle painting the back cabinet walls alone.  It only took one Sunday afternoon.

I used Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze (matte), the same color I painted our back kitchen cabinets to create a cohesive look.  The two photos were taken at different times of day, and the white part of the cabinet (Sherwin Williams Divine White) is more like the top photo- it looks a little warm in the bottom picture.  The Urbane Brown is a dark gray, with a slight hint of brown in it.  

I did not prime or paint white over the blue, just applied two coats of the Urbane Bronze.  

The best part of painting is removing the painters tape and admiring your work! I'm not good enough for cutting in by hand, but maybe someday.  

As soon as the paint was dry, I got to work restyling the shelves.  I changed some objects and books around since they looked different against the dark gray.  I love how white pops against the dark background, so I added more white accessories.  A few books with dreary covers were recovered in a silver snakeskin or plain white wrapping paper.     

The faux boxwood came in a brown ceramic pot that I spray painted white.  I found the tiger print on Etsy.  I have a couple more prints I'd like to sprinkle in, but this is good for now. 

On the left side, a funky pair of candlesticks flanks a picture of James when he first started walking-sweet memories! Varying the height and color of the books with pops of lime green and pink keeps the bookshelves from looking too serious. 

That lime green book on the far left is covered in scrapbook paper too, to bring in more of that cheerful color.

On top, I spray painted a larger black frame white and covered one of the books with blue and white quatrefoil paper.  For almost all of the books on the shelves, the jackets were removed.

Most of you know that this media cabinet was built-in when the house was built, so it wasn't purchased from a store.  A few industrious people have asked about measurements and so forth, so I measured for you in case you are building something similar.  I hope this helps!  When we had a small townhouse, we used the Pottery Barn Logan as our media center and it was very well built.

Do you like the new dark gray color or prefer the old blue better? 

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