Make-over for a built in

I have mixed feelings about "built-ins". Unless they are high end cabinetry, I think they give a spec. home feel to a house. Spec homes can be very beautiful. They just aren't for me. I like to pretend that I live in a little, quaint cottage. I don't. It was custom built for someone else. It was a well loved home and needed nothing when we moved in a year and a half ago. Except it needed to become a reflection of me and my family. This is the second home that we have moved into that used to belong to a prominent family in town. It takes a long time before people quit asking you if you live in "the Baxter's house" (I made that name up...you get the idea) After a while, you want to scream, "No, I live in the Richardson house!" It's all the little things you do or change that make it feel like you have put your signature on your home. With the built-ins, we added beadboard behind the shelves and covered up all the peg holes on the sides where you can adjust the shelf. We used spackling. We took out a bunch of shelves to give it a different feel. I'm tolerating the built-in better now. After a year and a half, it feels like home now and no one has asked me if I live in "the Coach's house" lately. However, yesterday someone did ask me if I lived in that house with all the junk stacked up in the garage! (I'm sorry in advance to the family that lives here after us.)

Before we moved in (Picture from MLS):After:
Beadboard painted antique white