Fabric for Built-ins

Alright kids, we are about to cross the finish line for these fine looking built-ins!  We took it up a notch by adding some fabric to the backs of the shelves. It gives the shelves great dimension and the best part is .....drum roll please.....it's NOT PERMANENT!

Heck yea! 

That means we can change out the fabric every couple of weeks, months, or every holiday/season. {my sister doesn't know this yet but I am already planning to change it out in 2 months when spring arrives....shhhhh don't tell her}

Here are a few more pics of this yummy eye candy....

ALLLLLLLRIGHTY THEN {what movie?}......

So here is the play by play of how we installed the fabric: 

1. Shopping trip to Joann Fabrics- purchased this foam board along with 7 1/2 yards of that gorgeous fabric we picked out, totaling 70 buckaroos. {1.99 for each board and I got the fabric half off and I was able to use my teacher's discount of 25% at the time. It's usually 15% off but it was a holiday weekend so I got an extra 10% off = SCORE!} 

 2. Tools Needed:  a good pair of scissors, a straight edge, sharp blade for cutting the foam board, measuring tape, some clear packing tape, and an extra set of hands is always helpful. {Thanks to my bro in law for helping- he's a keeper!}   

He shall remain faceless....lol

3. Next step was to measure the backs of each shelf and cut the boards accordingly. That's what Tom was doing in that pic above.  As soon as he would finish cutting he would bring the boards in and hand them off to me.  

4. I would then wrap each board with a piece of fabric that I had cut to size. It was super simple after that, I just wrapped each board like a present and then secured the fabric to the board with clear packing tape.   

 

5. After a board was prepped and ready we would take the shelves out and begin sliding the fabric wrapped boards into place. Like so....

We did not use anything to hold them in place other than the shelves. Measuring was key in order to make that work.  If we cut them too short then they would have wobbled around in the back. 

When we measured we made sure to take into account a tiny space for the shelf to slide into so that the boards didn't overlap and make the shelf jut out.  

Our cuts were so good that the boards would wedge in perfectly to the point where the shelves weren't even needed to hold them in place.  Here is a pic of three boards wedged into their positions without any type of adhering to the back wall.  They are cleanly tucked into their little nooks which makes me so happy! I also didn't worry too much about matching the pattern vertically because the accessories would most likely block the view of the patterns butting up against each other. I DID make sure the pattern was level, horizontally!

Pretty Cool Eh?

Here is a glimpse of 2 completed areas. I was jumping up and down at this point because I just couldn't freakin wait to see it all finished.  

I had a little helper along the way.  My niece, Anna helped me wrap each board.  She loved using the packing tape.  

See how the flow of the pattern doesn't really get affected once the shelves are in place?

Here it is all accessorized with a lot of the same accents from the previous post.  We plan on buying some new accessories and different frames down the road, so this is not exactly how we want to

 keep it.  

Before I leave you guys, let's do a little reminiscing....

First we HATED and almost barfed staring at that awful brown molding....

Next we dreamed....

Then we hired a friend to make it happen and it began....

AFTER....

All Dolled Up....

Remember the pass through/power outlet for all of the cords from this post??? 

Can you find it? It's hidden so well....

Don did an amazing job replicating our inspiration photo. I actually like our built-ins better than this online photo that we dreamed about. 

Well.... I am dying to know what you all think?  Do you love it? Is it too much? I am thinking the red might be a tad too much that's why I said we aren't completely smitten with all of the accessories just yet.  I can't wait to hear what you all have to say. Don't hold back....