My Dream Bookcases

Ever since we moved into our house I have dreamed about having built-in bookcases in the front room, but it's taken two years to finally set aside the money, stop talking about it and do it f'reals.

The ideas that we have for this space really include a four-step plan. This opening here is a walk-thru that leads to the kitchen, but in between the kitchen is our laundry room and very small pantry.

Our first step was to close off the walkway so that eventually we can expand the pantry and close it off from the rest of the kitchen. Step two is a wall of built-in bookcases against the far wall. Step three will be to close in the walk-thru on the other side to create a larger pantry, and step four, which we aren't sure about yet, is to close in this front room and add french doors to make it more of a study.

But because we don't want to fork over the money just yet, we only opted to do steps one and two right now, and then maybe in the summer we will do the rest.

Since neither my husband or I are reno DIYers, and knew it would be a hot mess if we tried, we called up our amazing carpenter friend, Travvis to create something we would love.

Travvis closed-off the walk-through, and then he got started on the bookcases. Most of the building was done in our garage, and he brought it in and installed large sections at a time. He was nice enough to let me take progress pictures throughout, so that I could make a fun GIF to share with you all.

After he completed the bookcases, he sanded them down and left them for me to paint. I chose to paint them myself to save money, but if I could do it all over again, I would have paid to have someone paint them for me. Dude, when I was in the thick of it I would have paid a thousand dollars and given my firstborn to have someone paint it for me. It was a LOT. And it also made me very nitpicky about my own work. It's not perfect, and because I painted it, at first I was critical of the imperfections.  But now that it's finished and styled and I'm not looking at it with a magnifying glass anymore, I am able to let the little flaws go, and I love it.

By far my favorite part of this process was styling the bookcases. I have been buying things in anticipation for this bookcase for a long time and it was so fulfilling to finally get everything out and play!

I do want to get a different chair (the one in there now is a $5 garage sale find) and we also need to raise the ceiling fan (or replace it,) but for the most part, the room is done and it's officially my favorite room in the house. Hope you love it too!

Linked to: