before and after: the living room

For the last week, Britton has been at Disney World with Memaw and PawPaw.  Originally, they were going to take her when we took our cruise.  Fast forward to us moving the cruise, and they didn't want to disappoint Britton by canceling the trip.  So, for the last week, Britton has been frolicking in Florida, the hub spent some time at a conference in Houston, and I was in my house HOME ALONE for three whole days.  It was marvelous.  It was quiet.  At night, it was scary but I just ignored all those little sounds you hear when you're home alone.  I quilted and crafted and planned and took complete advantage of the kid-free time!

One major project was to finish the formal living room.  As you know, we have moved the office (which consists of a desk and computer) into the formal living room since the desk no longer fits in the guest room.  This room was basically empty (except for the Christmas tree at Christmastime), so it worked out.  And if one day I finally treat myself to a baby grand piano, the desk will leave to make room.  I've always wanted built-in bookcases.  My bank account does not.  So when I stumbled upon a tutorial on how to do faux built-in bookcases with IKEA Billy bookcases (check it out here), I was pumped!

Here is the living room before:

The hub assembling the five bookcases.  Yes, FIVE.  I painted the backs a grey very similar to the family room walls (Olympic "Flagstone") and the hardest part by far was getting the backs on.  The redesign is terrible and it took way longer and way more work than it should have!

We put them into place, then called it a night!  The next morning, we ran out to Lowes for trim.  Now, I was completely caught off guard as to how much trim costs.  Luckily, the hubs didn't make fun of me for getting too loud about the outrageous cost of trim in Aisle 19.  Or point out that maybe I should have looked into the total cost of the project before buying five bookcases, but I digress...

And we have casing!  And crown moulding!  And baseboard!  And paintable caulk!  And paint!  Can't you just feel the excitement?

Then the hubs and I headed out for grocery shopping while the paint dried.  Let me tell you - in hindsight, this may have been our last weekend without a kid around.  In three months, kidS.  And my hubs, sick from some random hacking flu combo, spent over 15 hours over 2 days putting these bookcases together because I wanted them.  I owe him, and I owe him BIG.  At least 5 Saturday sleep ins.  Minimum.

I LOVE how they turned out!  They look completely built-in and just make the room.  As you can see, there's more than enough room for more books and photos.

The IKEA chairs to go with the bookcases.  I couldn't find yellow pillow covers so I made some ($5 of clearance fabric for 2 covers - steal!).  I bought the lamp and shade at Lowes and it's better than anything I could find at Target (who, by the way, is getting a little proud of their stuff.  $35 for a lamp without a shade?  Ridiculous, Target.  Ridiculous.). The table between the chairs is the hubs' old nightstand.  The desk is now on the opposite wall across from the chairs.  

And with that, other than the master bathroom (which we wouldn't do ourselves), this house is FINISHED.  DONE.  Yay!