My Thrifted Midcentury Bookshelf — a Before & After
by Katy on May 2, 2025 · 20 comments
I finally finished refurbishing the vintage World Book encyclopedia bookshelf that I thrifted last week at the Tillamook, Oregon Goodwill.
I paid $7.99 for this “magazine rack,” even though the finish was in rough condition.
Luckily I have zero fears when it comes to refurbishing furniture, as there was zero chance that I’d make it worse. It was super sturdy, so all I needed to do was to tart up the finish. I already had a small can of walnut stain in the basement, which I dabbed over the areas with damaged finish. I then wiped the whole thing down with Howard’s Restor-a-Finish and their Feed-N-Wax.
Of course that didn’t address the rusted brass foot caps.
So I took some steel wool to the metal feet and painted over them with a gold paint pen, which was a miracle worker. I spent $3.99 on the pen from a locally owned art supply store, which was my only expense in the refinishing process.
A thousand times better!
And here she is in all her refurbished glory! Looking her best and ready for a new owner. I’ve listed her on Facebook Marketplace for $150, which is significantly less than these specific bookshelves sell for on the world wide web.
Edit: Sold!
This was a fun project for just $11.98.
Click HERE to see the blog post where I refurbished this exact same vintage book shelf back in 2013!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
It looks great Katy! Nice work. I think you will have no problem selling it. Impressive…especially for $11.98.
Thank you, it was very enjoyable.
That is such a lovely piece of furniture. It ought to sell well.
The paint pen is awesome! My sweet old cat liked to chew on our brass spring doorstops, which made them rust a bit, and I finally touched them up with a brassy gold nail polish after he died. So far it’s holding up well but a paint pen would have matched better.
Cats . . . .
Talk about turning garbage into gold!
My goal, seven days a week!
Katy, have you thought about changing your name to Rumplestiltskin? (On second thought, don’t. None of us want you to end up ripping yourself up the middle.)
But I add my praise to everyone else’s for the great restoration of the bookshelf–especially as furniture restoration is simply not in my skill set. DH and I tried it a few times in our early years together, but we never enjoyed it and were never pleased with the results. So my hat’s off to you, as well as to Kristen at The Frugal Girl, for your repeated successes.
I haven’t considered that name change, however it has a nice ring to it. Kristen and I restore furniture very differently, as she paints things to use in her house and I fix up ratty furniture to resell. We’re both keeping things in circulation.
I hit a goodwill outside the Portland metropolitan area today, and found a dandy tablecloth that I’ve turned into a drapery. I used curtain rings I found in a free pile. I have better luck with goodwills that aren’t in Portland.
I’ve had that experience as well, although I do still find good stuff here in Portland.
Very nice!
Great job, Katy! Best part was you said it was enjoyable!
So satisfying!
Don’t you know that the person who gave it to Goodwill is going to kick themselves if and when they find out you sold it for $150???? (Yes I know it hasn’t sold yet. But I’m sure that pretty bookshelf will sell real soon!)
I moved Grandma’s 100-year-old dining room buffet to the front room last night, and discovered it didn’t fare so well back when we were using it as a coffee bar. Ditto, when it was in storage. I wasn’t intending to make it look Shabby Chic, but it appears that some coffee spills and other mishaps took the finish off in places. Would that Restor-A-Finish work with a damaged surface? Or do I need to re-stain the whole thing?
You can always try it in an inconspicuous spot and since I thrifted the bookshelf in Tillamook and I live in Portland it’s unlikely they’ll see my listing.
Katy,
Okey dokey. Thanks!
Love it!!
Slick! I like Rub ‘n’ Buff to touch up metal – it lasts forever in the tube and a little goes a long way.
I have enjoyed your sharing of the thrift and update for this bookshelf, Katy. You keep me inspired!
For some reason (life!) my frugal things postings have been partially written and not posted. Today I will share one that is from a few days ago, for your reading enjoyment.
FFT Apr 29 2025
1. My best buddy’s old doggo went over the rainbow bridge on Friday. I had JUST started walking with her again last week, and so my old dog and I were witness to his rapid decline – day one he walked, day two he came up the driveway but looked sad and we took him back, day three he was in his bed and not getting up. So sad for her and her family, as it always is with our beloved dogs.
She just called me, offering me some of his things and his raw food – (frozen) – apparently all the dogs in her neighbourhood have iffy tummies, but my Skye will eat anything (and does…). I am glad to take it (I’ll pay her for it, raw food ain’t cheap).
I had the temerity to ask for Copper’s day-glow rainproof coat. (You may recall that my attempts to get one this winter were not successful.) My buddy offered up the harness that was used under the coat, as well, which we will gladly take. It is so kind of her to pass things on to the friends of her dog. I admire her ability to wash things up and do this hard job so quickly.
2. The Canadian election is over, with results I can live with, however vote splitting in my riding means that we got a candidate and party that I cannot get behind. [How can someone get 37% of the popular vote and win, while 63% of the voters wanted more left leaning candidates (but split their vote over three of them).? GAH.]
I am hoping our rep will actually represent us, we shall wait and see. However, the end result is that we can relax about who DIDN’T get in. (The leader of THAT party lost his own seat, a story for another day!)
3. My housecleaner called to say she had a flat tire. I was able to go pick her up, and provide a car and tools for her to get the tire off, to the repair shop, collected then reinstalled. This is one of the reasons I seem to have extra vehicles around, it is an easy share.
I did have to firmly tell her that there was no need to put gas in (she probably drove fewer than 10 miles, all said) and that this is what friends DO for each other. Harumph, if you are helped out, a thank-you suffices!
4. One of my longest serving friends (LOL) dropped in, I had picked up a swack of charts and thought she might be interested. Turns out that most are for offshore and not the Canadian coast, but she went away with one chart book of Mexico.
I will offer the charts to some other friends, may keep some for Christmas wrapping, and offer the rest on Buy Nothing. I had taken them off the hands of an acquaintance who is mourning the death of her long time sailing husband, she is clearing things out and after a perusal of these she was ready to get them gone (NOW!!). Helped her to move them on, and it is an easy collection for me to pass on.
This buddy happened to be on a road trip to visit another friend, which was going to pass right by my place, so I am so glad I sent her a note about the charts – we don’t connect as often as we should. After a dog walk and yammer, and each of us eating our own lunches (she has an ‘interesting’ diet), I looked at her and suggested that she have a nap before continuing her drive as she had at least 2 ½ hours to go. She ended up snoozing for over an hour (!!) so that was a good call. Glad to have a buddy so good that I can make such a suggestion and it won’t be taken the wrong way.
Before she left, we visited my sad garden, where she happily harvested nettle, bolting kale (leaves and buds), some arugula, dill, oregano, rhubarb, and a few leeks. I picked leeks and rhubarb for me, too, which I have already cleaned and cooked and stuck into the fridge (not together, bleh – separate prepping and cookings occurred!)
5. Best Buddy (the dog friend) gave me three rolled up bamboo kind of curtains – the one I had on my back porch to keep the sun off survived 4 winters, but the same windstorm that took out my greenhouse battered the heck (and bamboo) out of it this last year. My buddy had ‘spares’ no longer needed due to them doing a renovation, so I am glad to have taken them off her hands. Currently, however, they are cluttering my living room.
6. After all the excitement of tires and friends and an upset cleaner and a day that had gone sideways by 10 AM, I took myself off to an AA meeting – I haven’t been able to attend for a while due to other commitments.
It was a birthday meeting which usually means cake. This time someone made the cutest fruit skewers (long skewers and lots of fruit) as well as Nanaimo bars and other munchies. That someone encouraged us to take extras home, so I got 3 yummy skewers and 5 bars. #2 son isn’t answering his doorbell so he might just miss out, although I do hope he rescues me from eating all the bars!
7. My (library) ship came in! After returning all my books prior to my holiday, I foolishly decided to unfreeze a few on my holds list, THEN foolishly ordered some more books without remembering to freeze them. The stack was longer than my arm. I staggered to the desk, yammered to the librarian as she processed them, cadged a reusable bag from her that had been left by someone else, and then my OTHER best buddy appeared at my side, so I shoved 6 books into her arms and we staggered out to my car together. I am RICH, I tell you, RICH! And one of the books was the unexpected – “The Berry Pickers” by Amanda Peters, that Katy has been sharing is worth the read.
8. My Sister (with whom I travelled to Turkiye) had to fly across Canada a week after she got home, to come attend my Aunti’s celebration of life.
She is squeezing lots out of every day in her week here, including time with her Daughter. Now she is doing “Mom Chores”– getting my aging Mom set up with a Lifeline (YAY) and trying out a bath-entry chair (Not going to be popular with mom as it is huge and ugly, I suspect it will be returned).
Sis is spending enough time with Mom that she is really going to know what we have been sharing: Mom is starting to lose it. However, Sis got a home-care person in who did a look-see around Mom’s place (with Mom onboard with the fuss and bother!!) and we all are feeling better that the professional figures Mom will continue to be just fine, for now, without needing ‘home care’. Whew. So very helpful that the far-away sibling is doing some of the harder tasks, so I am not the only ‘bad guy’.
Wow, Ecoteri, you have a busy, busy life! I envy you having all those friends to visit you and it’s so nice you can help one another out like you do. Sending you (and your mom and family) hugs, as I know it is really tough to be taking care of aging parents, and condolences on the loss of your auntie. Also sad to hear about your friend’s puppy dog; I lost mine the same way this November. It still hurts! The only time our pets, really really let us down (not that they can help it) is when their lifespans aren’t as long as ours and they have to cross over the Rainbow Bridge.