Pressed board furniture - those big microwave stands and entertainment centers - are absolute white elephants. I picked up a big microwave stand with one drawer and a cupboard below, as a curb side offering; (fyi, end of spring term at any college dorm is also prime hunting grounds.) We totally disassembled the piece, and it was surprising how much shelving material there was!
These shelves are not good candidates for painting: screw holes, raw edges and the occasional wavy laminate; with the help of that old standby Contac Paper, you can do a down-n-dirty, washable, surface refurbishment. I picked a non-geometric black and white pattern - easiest and most forgiving. After we designed the layout and cut the shelves, before installing them, I wrapped each shelf with contact paper. Use a staple gun on the edges of the contac paper on the underside of the shelves, to ensure it stays properly;
Using a stud finder, we screwed braces to the wall (1"x 2" support studs from the cabinet, cut long enough to provide shelf support, wrapped in contact paper also before installing) then, starting with the bottom shelf and working up, we attached the shelves. Sweeeeet!
I have a mixed bunch of clear storage boxes - including green, blue, and purple tops - so I spent a little extra here to pull them all together by using a black spray paint for plastic, and painted all the lids.
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