What Not to Do

Yes, I was just watching "What Not to Wear" on TLC while I was doing some accounting work.

And yes, I went to work on putting another coat of paint on my bookshelves, and discovered my own version of What NOT to do....which includes not knowing what not to wear.  I could be my whole episode there....do you think Stacey and Clinton would object to paint-wear going to the grocery store?

But I digress...

 I primed and put on a thin coat of paint on my shelves, then set something on top (after it had dried very well).....

.....

....and noticed that it took the paint right off.

 

With a little scraping it really came off.  I used very good primer that is supposed to be able to go right on top of any finish, but it didn't work (editor's note: I was wrong....keep reading)  It didn't stick.  I tried a little nick with my paint scraper, and it came right off.  Too easily.

 

Skipping the sanding down part is not the best idea.  It did save me a few minutes initially, but I'm paying for it now. 

 

So: what to do?

 

1) Scrape it all off, and start over?

2) Keep painting, and hope no one notices, because really, I'm the only one that will be in that room...

3) Sand it, use wood filler, and hope for the best?

 

And the answer? None of the Above!

 

So what did I do? I flipped the whole thing over!  The top is now the bottom, and the bottom is now the new top!  I realized at this point that the primer I used was not the glossy surface primer, so I re-purchased, re-primed, and am ready to move forward!  I'm really hoping this project will be over soon, because I'm ready to move on. 

 

So I'm back to painting....with a new brush too, because I left this one out.   So to answer my bloggy motto of "What's the worst that can happen?", this time it's $8 in paint, $7 in a new brush, and a flipped over shelf. 

Not so bad in the DIY world, right?