Clichély Chevron with a Kylee Twist

I, like many other women in this world, have succumbed to Pinterest.  I admit that now with all the shame and pride appropriate for such a situation.  I love how many ideas float around, just ready to be downloaded into my brain and used for my own purposes (whether the pinners intended them that way or not).  However, that being said, I would like to claim the next two ideas as my own.  Today, I shall discuss the first. 

  

I would like to be able to say that I fell in love with Chevron long before it became ridiculously popular over the entire internet.  That would be a lie.  Pinterest introduced to me to the very classic looking pattern.  I instantly fell in love and began to wonder how I could incorporate it into my life without really believing I would do anything much where Chevron was concerned.  And then I received the greatest wedding present in the world:  our good friends, Jen and Adam, created a bookcase just for me.  That’s right, world!  They designed the most epic bookcase.  When I saw that beauty sitting on the front stoop of Jen’s apartment (right after I’d helped her lug the thing out of Adam’s van and then up the stairs), my brain began to double time. 

It was incredible!  So totally “Kylee” in its design.  When I saw it for the first time, Jen hadn’t even started sanding it.  She needed to finish a second bookcase for another friend of ours, and ours had fallen to the side for the moment--fate.  

“Can I please paint this?!” 

It took very little convincing. 

Taking a load off Jen’s back, I stole my bookshelf along with the stain they’d been planning to put on it and a few pages of sandpaper.  I took the whole lot to my doorstep, and began the arduous process of sanding the stupid thing.  Warning:  if you think undergoing a wood project of this size for your first wood project EVER is a smart idea, know that it’s not.  I was sure that the process would be super easy.  No joke, my thoughts geared toward finishing it within just a week or two.  I was very wrong. 

A month later . . .

I finally finished sanding, and prepared to stain the surface.  I blocked off two panels per enclosed square with painter’s tape.  Surprisingly, this was the easiest job. 

After two coats of stain, the bookcase looked like the following pictures . . . GORGEOUS.  Such an amazing color.  I loved it!  "Bombay Mahogany Satin."  

Then time for retaping and priming the empty panels. 

And then came the paint. Due to my impatience and frustration by this point, I didn’t take many pictures until it had finally been finished. 

I really love how it turned out.  Especially with all our junk cluttering it up.  It’s so cute!

After I had finished the paint job, it had been sitting on the front porch--painted side facing out--when suddenly a neighbor popped up on our doorstep.  "Are you giving this bookcase away?  My wife sent me up here to ask about it."  I had to tell him that it was mine completely, but I was so flattered!  My bookcase is coveted.  I did a good job.  I hope it stays in the family for a long time.