This took way to long: Shelf before and after

I have a very bad habit of starting one project after another (after another, after another...) before finishing what I was previously working on...this means it takes me forever to finish even the simplest things in a reasonable amount of time. A perfect example is this shelf:

Before: Shelf has just had a bit of a clean and a sand - also some wood filler in areas.

I found it way back, around the end of August/beginning of September (I can't even remember now!). It was covered in stuff at an antique market in St. Jacobs. It was a horrible colour and had a terrible finish to it, but I liked the fact it was a cheap, small-ish shelf that could be used to display some of the bits and pieces I have collected over the years. Almost immediately after getting it home I got to work on it, cleaning it and sanding away the gross finish. Since this was my first time painting furniture, I made plenty of mistakes and learned quite a bit...over the course of the three months (give or take) that it took me to finish it!

This is what dining tables were made for! Giving the shelf a couple of coats of a protective finish.

To protect the shelf I used this Polycrylic finish. This stuff does a nice job, but its a pain to put on anything white! No matter how much I cleaned and prepared the furniture and work space, somehow little bits of dust and fibers find their way onto the furniture - the dust particles are now a permanent feature!

Shelf sitting in its new home, waiting to dry completely before it gets filled with stuff. Not a great photo, it was getting dark. 

Finally after sanding the hell out of this thing, giving it approximately a million coats of paint, then a couple (actually 4 - I am a bit compulsive) coats of a clear satin protective finish, it is complete! It now proudly displays some of the things I have had sitting on the floor of the living room waiting patiently (collecting dust) until the time came to put them away!

Now that this shelf is done it leaves 4 more pieces of furniture waiting in line to be painted/refinished, but with my track record, it should take some time (it doesn't help that I keep finding more items and adding them to the to-do list!). The next piece to be finished is a tiny china cabinet type thing. It was purchased at the same time as the shelf, and I have been working on them simultaneously, so it should be done within the next week or so, photos to follow!

PS. I wrote this post weeks back but never got around to posting it. By the time the shelf was dried and ready for goodies, I was well into working on the dining room, and that took priority over everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) else in life! Unfortunately the china cabinet got put on the back burner for a while so it won't be ready to put in the dining room for Christmas.