This may not have been the intended use for this ‘fabric’ nor was it what I had originally purchased it for but this fun fabric print I have totally fallen in love with. When it did not quite work out in the original project, I just had to use it somewhere else.
The idea of jazzing up the back of a bookcase is not new and many have pulled off this project with pretty papers (gift wrapping, scrapbooking, wallpaper) or fabrics to great results.
Sometime ago, I came across this pretty patterned rubber matting and promptly put it behind my bookcases.
Looks great doesn’t it? One problem …
The sides poked out and looked terrible! But I lived with it, choosing to ignore the lumps and bumps along the side.
Never fear, when the tablecloth project did not turn out quite so well, I looked around for another place to use it and the bookcases became the new target.
For those of you unsure just how easy it is to put a new backing on a bookcase, here is what I did.
I unscrewed the backing board and laid it out on my chosen fabric, cutting around the edges roughly.
I then used a small amount of double sided tape on each corner to hold the fabric in place, for now.
I then lined up the backing on the bookcase back and screwed it back on through the fabric edges and trimmed off the excess poking out the sides.
And then you have pretty backed bookcases!
Because my choice was a plastic coated fabric, this will be easy to wipe over if dusty and should last a long time. If you choose to use paper, you may need to add a sealing step in or skip it and change out when first paper choice wears over time.
I am having so much fun discovering new uses for everyday items such as this tablecloth.
Have you found an alternate use for an everyday item recently?
Or have you been working on a project and it’s just not turning out the way you would have liked, like my initial use for this tablecloth?
I have almost completed the project for which this tablecloth was purchased, using an alternate method and will be posting soon. As for the tablecloth, there is still some left over – look out for more uses in future projects 
