Repurposing basement shelves

Our home was built in the early 80's. Which of course means that many of the elements and materials used are now out of date.  In the paneled basement there was a rather large wall of varnished pine shelves, that I was not in love with, nor did I want to keep.  (Too orange-y and a bit too utilitarian)

Basement pine shelves

And yet, I was unable to just chuck the boards.  I am big on re-purposing, not only does it save on cost, it saves on waste. Not to mention re-purposing forces you to be creative.

As I have worked on the house I have taken a shelf from the basement wall and used them in various rooms.  And over that time, I have discovered a way to age the wood and take the yellow/orange tinge of the varnished pine away and give it a more aged patina, like in our guest bathroom.

Warm wood in the bathroom

I loved it so much, I ended up with the narrow shelves in all of our bathrooms.  I think the wood adds a nice warm touch to all the painted surfaces.

stack of floating wood shelves

small bathroom shelf

Also, by having to work with what I had, I created these shelves that I don't think I would have found in the store (At least not in my price point).

After using all the narrow shelves, I still had all to the wider boards left over.  Some I used in my daughters closet (we all should have pretty closets),

Harlequin pattern and wood shelves in closet

and some are used as mattress boards on my son's bed.

And even with those uses, I still have at least one long board still available for use.  My plan  is to incorporate it in the armoire update for the basement.  But that reveal is for later.

Friday I will show you how I age the boards.

-Laurie