Bookcase progress

When deciding on materials for the shelving portion of our bookcases, we had quite a selection to choose from at our local Menards store.  Sorry, I couldn't resist this hysterical pic of Ray the 'Menards guy!'

For shelving, there's MDF, laminate, oak, hardwood plywoods like birch, specialty boards like ash or maple, and pine.  We didn't want to use laminate because all the other built-ins in our house are wood.  We couldn't use oak or specialty wood because it would've set us back a ton.  Despite them being excellent products for this application, we decided against 3/4 inch plywood or MDF because it would've been a royal pain to cut to size.  Menards does not do cuts for customers, so we would've had to bring the 4x8 sheets elsewhere.  That was not going to happen, since we don't even own a truck.  We ended up with 1x10in 'select' pine boards.  They were gorgeous and knot-free!

They did cost lots of monies - almost $20 a board for 8ft lengths.  But they were already the width we wanted, and the portions we cut off after creating the shelf support frames could be used for shelves.  Some people think that pine doesn't make good shelving because it's too soft, but with the proper prep and finish, pine can be just as durable as oak.  We created the support frames using 52 inch pieces of the pine boards with a 1/4 inch plywood backing. 

Hager chose to stagger the plywood backing among the frames, which was not something I wanted.  I didn't want to see seams in the plywood on the backs of the bookcases, but he was trying to avoid us needing another piece.  So, we will make the best of it with wood filler. 

Here is the last frame awaiting installation.

And it was put in place that evening. 

The vertical shelf supports line up with the cabinets, for the most part.  The two cabinets on the ends are 12 inches wide, while the middle four cabinets are two-door 30 inch wide cabinets.  We chose this combination because the wall was 12ft 1.5in long, so 144 inches of cabinets would be almost perfect.  We did have to add a filler piece to the right side, as they were a little short. 

The next steps are priming and putting up the shelf cleats.  Lucius approves of the project so far, which is good since I'm sure he will ultimately be sitting up there when it's completed.   

Can you see it coming together?  We are so excited!  PS - Hager did not help us just because he is an amazing person.  He helped us because we paid him.  Just wanted to clear that up for all you (unnecessarily) jealous people! 

Let's build something

Back when we were redoing the future den/tv room in March, I had a very crazy idea for the long back wall of the room.  Shaun, of course, wanted to paint it and call it a day.  Not me. 

I needed to make our life very complicated by creating a 12-foot-long built-in bookcase along this wall.  With cabinets on the bottom.  And baseboards and crown, naturally.  Like this:

Easy DIY, right?  I immediately went to Menards and bought some oak kitchen wall cabinets to use as the base.  They were reasonably priced, 12 inches deep, 30 inches high....and perfect for extra storage.  We primed them outside, excited about the project.  I think.    

Thinking this was going to be a breeze, we pried off the baseboard along the wall and laid out some 2x4's as a platform for the cabinets - they needed to start 5 inches off the ground to allow the baseboard to run underneath. 

We had a beast of a time trying to notch out the baseboard along the sides of the wall.   The baseboards were very solid wood, and the plaster was not impressed with our efforts to cut them mid-wall.  In fact, it was a jerk.

Here is a mockup of the platform the cabinets would sit on.  The 2x4s would be stacked together, the two pieces stacked on opposite ends equal 5 inches:

And here is where our project stopped.  We just couldn't wrap our heads around all the steps to get this things started.  Some of our questions were:

• How to secure the platform? 
• How to maintain the cold air return and all the outlets on the wall?
• How to put a top on the cabinets that spanned a 12 foot 1.5 inch wall?
• How to build the shelving with a plywood backing, and how to secure them to the wall and the cabinets? 
• Adjustable shelves, or fixed?

We fought about it quite a bit, and then finally, Shaun called in a buddy to help us out.  Hager drove from IL to stay with us for a week, and built this thing!  Here he is measuring and building our cabinet platforms:

The cabinets were starting to get secured to the base in no time...

Before long, he had them all in:

I was so excited!  Since we were building over the entire wall, I had to write some little messages just in case anyone would ever see them. 

I love the note Shaun wrote to his friend.  I suppose it had been 6 months that this room has been in shambles, we were both really sick of not making any progress.  Hager was crying when he read it, though. 

Just kidding, I think he was wiping away his manly sweat.  Or trying to avoid the camera.  Or shaking his head at me.  Whatever.  Let's look at that top!

Because the wall is so long, we couldn't find a board long enough that was at least 13 inches wide.  We ended up ripping down these 16" edge-glued pine boards with the table saw.  We had to use three to cover the entire length, I hope my wood filling skills are good enough to cover the seams!

Next week I will share the shelving process.  Also, why do I always pick these impossible projects?! 

Bathroom refresh

On a whim, I decided to 'summerize' our main bathroom....just in time for fall.  I'm so on top of this crap.  Anywhoodle, it used to look all black and classy like this:

I thought it was taking itself a little too seriously, so I went to World Market and bought this totally random shower curtain:

It has some of the aqua green from our wall paint in the pattern, so I went for it.  Then of course I had to add some yellow accents, so here you go:

Eeek, the lighting is hard to photograph, I promise the rug matches the walls and the wall color is an awesome vintage green (Behr Aquatone). 

The window shade is a badly cobbled-together mistreatment.  I didn't take detailed pics of the process, but it amounts to some (impossible to iron) natural cotton duck fabric, aqua ribbon, stitch witchery, and many pins and stiches. 

Unfortunately, it is still wrinkled and the folds are crooked, but I'm no Centsational Girl, so I had to make peace with my mediocrity.  Dig?

I found the monogram candles on clearance at Pottery Barn.  All they had left was vowels, so now Shaun gets to make jokes about what I owe him every morning.  What a scream. 

My last lilies from the yard are in a Crate and Barrel vase, along with my beloved Fresh Lemon candle from Bath and Body Works, why can't they have it all year? 

Someday, I will have a granite counter in here and a mirror that isn't held on with plastic clips, but for now it works.  For more on the bathroom's hidden secrets, click here.

We survived Vegas

I'm back in WI.  Tan, tired, and broke.  Sounds like a good time to work on some free house projects, right?  I thought so.  That is what we'll be doing all weekend, and I will hopefully be catching up with my favorite blogs as well.  I took next to no photos on this trip, lame for a blogger, I know.  I did snap a couple shots of our 'GO' room at the Flamingo, it was pretty rad.

I loved the hot pink accents and that groovy white vinyl headboard!  The bathrooms have tv's in the mirror.  I watched Friends while I was getting ready one day - the one where Ross and Rachel get the hot nanny 'Molly' - in case you were wondering.....

Our room overlooked the Bellagio fountain show, so that was pretty awesome.  However, we were underwhelmed by the strip attractions, I can't say anything really stood out. We went to the VooDoo lounge on top of the Rio for the awesome views, unfortunately the vodka tonic I got tasted like the bartender made it with dishwater.  And it was $10.  Wah Wah. 

This is before I actually tried the drink. 

I think Shaun's was better than mine.  Or maybe he has lower standards.

At least we got to look at this for awhile.  The view, not the dudes on the stairs.  We did not get one photo of the two of us over the entire trip.  Bummer.  But we got some neat individual shots using the 'nighttime' shooting mode on the Rebel.  Without even trying, the lights created some awesome effects. 

Cool, huh?  I thought so.

Ta ta for now

Despite my hatred for airports, crowds, hotel staff, overpriced drinks and packing 20 outfits for a 5 day trip (I'm a terrible overpacker), we will be flying to Vegas tomorrow for a Labor Day getaway.  That being said, things will be very quiet around here.  I could set some posts to publish automatically, but that would involve creating posts ahead of time which doesn't happen around here.  Instead, we will be sitting at the Flamingo GO pool with drinks in our hands and not a care in the world. 

And I will look like this while lounging there:

BWAHAHA!  OK, moving on....we have been working on a project in the future den/tv room for a little while.  It involves this back wall that I never fully showed in pics before: 

There is a reason we didn't paint it back in March.  I'll be back next weekend with some deets!  Have a great holiday weekend, everyone!

Not just for cups

I love cup hooks.  They are holding up my curtains in both of our porches, and they do it so well.   

Add the cup hooks to some 3 foot, 1/2" oak dowels from Home Depot, cut in half with the miter saw and primed and painted white:

Pick up some cheap 1/2" dowel caps from Hob Lob and prime and paint white:

Use your smallest drill bit to make the holes in the ceiling.  Screw cup hooks into the ceiling and WALAH.

You have a mini curtain rod that cost you a few bucks. 

And if you even want to take them down, you only need a little spackle to fill those tiny holes.  LOVE.

I think I may have put this picture on the blog 17 times by now.  Who cares, it looks nice.  Here is the naked end again, just to be fair. 

I think the dowels cost 2 bucks each, the dowel caps were $1.50 (2 packs at half off) and the cup hooks were a couple bucks too.  Curtains are from Ikea, they were $15 for two - so $30. 

Total cost, around 35 bucks!  Does anyone actually use cup hooks for cups anymore?  Shouldn't they come in cute colors and be marketed as rod holders?  I think I may have found a good business plan.  Good thing I just advertised it on the internet.  Dang.