Since our hallway renovation is almost complete we thought it was time to dig out this wonderful solid wood shelving unit that we have been keeping for the space and give it a little makeover. The wood was not in the greatest condition and since the color doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of our decor we decided to paint it black.

How to Renovate vintage shelving unit :

The first step was to remove the top panel and also the two sliding glass inserts to make things easier for painting. The top came off easily after removing four small screws and the glass just lifted out.

The color we chose was Black F319 80 – 100% acrylic enamel in an eggshell finish from Benjamin Moore. It is the same paint we used for the Entryway Bench we built a while back and and is quite durable with a beautiful finish.

No need to prime here as this paint goes on thick and we also gave it three coats in total. It is also a very fast drying so we were able to apply all three coats in a matter of one night.

You can see how worn and stained the original finish was on the top of the unit. Originally we were going to try to restore it by sanding and re-staining the wood but in the end painting was the best option and we’re quite happy with the results.

Here it is all finished. We can’t wait to move it upstairs into the hallway and see how it fits in!