Why not paint them?

I bought these little white display shelves about 5 or 6 years ago when I was living in Phoenix.  I had them in my Phoenix bedroom the entire time I lived there.  When I moved back to my house in Washington I ended up putting them in my guest/front bathroom.  I have them hung one above the other on the wall near the sink and one day I lit a candle on the lower one thinking they were far enough apart to do so; I was wrong.  

(Shelves Painted)

For the longest time after the little burn mark/candle incident I just left them.  I didn't know what I would replace them with or what to do with them at that point.  Finally one day it just came to me, why not paint them?  So here is a little project I did last week while Critter was up at Elk Camp (he gets home today, can't wait to see what he thinks of them now.)   See below for the simple steps I took to accomplish this shabby, rustic style look I got that looks even better in my modern rustic styled home than they ever did painted in their original white finish.                                     



(Finished Shelves)

I took the shelves down and then laid out the old shower curtain that I had just replaced with a new one and put them on it in the garage after giving them a light sanding on all of the surfaces.  I purchased a can of flat brown spray paint when I was at Wal-Mart and gave them a full but light coat and let them dry for about 3 hours.  I went back out and sanded the paint off with 240 grit sandpaper until I achieved the weathered/worn look that I was happy with and hung them back on the wall and put the stuff back on them.  Notice I put the candle back in the same place. 





Note to self: don't light candle and let it burn while on shelf.  (Unless of course you are ready to reinvent the look of your decor again.)