For a larger image of the bookcase click here.

1. Add trim
Nothing elevates flat-pack furniture like fancy moulding. Flanked by prefab crown moulding corners, a strip of decorative trim provides an elegant architectural flourish.

Alexandria Moulding primed pine outside crown corners, $12 each.
Oak ogee/crown, $4 (per eight feet), homedepot.ca.
Cloud White OC-130 paint (on trim), benjaminmoore.ca.

2. Paper the rear panel
Here’s a worthy fate for those wallpaper remnants you’ve been hanging on to. Use double-sided tape to attach the wallpaper to the bookcase’s fibreboard panel, and reinforce each edge with clear packing tape to prevent tears when sliding the panel into place.

Graham & Brown Monsoon Collection Isabelle wallpaper in Blue, $60 per roll, homedepot.ca.

3. Illuminate
You don’t need to be an electrician to install these under-shelf puck lights, which plug into any conventional wall socket. What’s more, they’re a low-heat-emitting LED design, which is safer than conventional bulbs in an enclosed space.

Inreda LED spotlights, $50 (pack of four).
Ansluta power supply cord, $8; ikea.ca.

4. Display your DIY
A craft station should do more than house your DIY supplies; it should also serve as a showcase for a few of your favourite one-of-a-kind creations. This framed ombré art is actually a grid of leftover paint chips, arranged in a gorgeous gradation of colour and pasted onto a panel of watercolour paper.

Virserum frame, $13, ikea.ca.

5. Get crafty with storage
Here, a paper towel holder is repurposed as a dispenser for ribbon and twine, and gold-spray-painted canning jars serve as catchalls for everything from glue gun sticks to paintbrushes. Keep less attractive tools out of sight in labelled, lidded boxes.

Umbra Teardrop paper towel holder, $20, kitchenstuffplus.com.
Kassett Dark Pink magazine files, $6 (pack of two).
Lidded storage boxes, $5 (pack of two small),$9 (pack of two large); ikea.ca.

Love the bookcase? Then try making over your vanity table.
                                               

This story was originally titled "Upmarket Makeover" in the February 2014 issue.             Subscribe to Canadian Living today and never miss an issue!