By Monica Ewing, Sunset senior designer

I wouldn't actually call it a china cabinet, because it won't hold china, and it's not a cabinet. How about dish shelves? Either way, it's not a boring bookshelf anymore. Here's what I did this week...

Step 5 Fill the holes
I used wood filler to fill all the nail holes and caulk to fill in gaps at the corners and edges of the molding. I find wood filler much easier to work with because I can always sand out mistakes when it dries. Caulk? Not so much.

Step 6 Paint
I painted one coat of primer and two coats of white paint. For the larger areas, I used a small paint roller, which made the job faster and eliminated brush strokes.

Tip #1 Don't be tempted to buy cheap paint rollers and brushes. You'll only end up tossing them and buying better ones. Splurge on the good stuff. Why? You'll get a smoother, more even finish, and the job will go much faster.

Step 7 Attach the backing
I bought a sheet of bead board to replace the original tattered backing. After Dan cut it to size for me, I painted it pale blue (Behr Prelude 740E-3). When the paint was dry, I nailed it to the back of the shelf unit.

Step 8 Anchor it to the wall
It's tall, skinny, and a bit top heavy, so it needed to be bolted to the wall. I screwed two L-brackets into the wall, then screwed the top of each bracket to the shelf unit.

Tip #2 When anchoring to drywall, use a stud sensor to find a stud, then drill there. Or use a drywall anchor or "molly bolt."

Step 9 Screw in the cup hooks
I found chrome cup hooks at Lowe's. After measuring and marking where I wanted them to go, I encountered a problem: My drill wouldn't fit between the shelves. So I hammered a nail into each spot, yanked it out, and screwed the cup hooks into the nail holes.

Finally, it was ready to load with dishes, napkins, and candles. My palette was inspired by Iris' dishes in the movie The Holiday. (Iris was played by Kate Winslet.) Don't I wish I had her cottage kitchen too.

Next week: It's all about seashells.