Major undertaking: The bookcase

Here are the glorious (or hideous) before and after pictures of our most recent big project: the built in. Everyone is wanting more storage space and built-ins are huge for resale value right now, but not when yours looks like ours did before! It sucked all of the light out of the room and made it look very dark and dingy in a garden level room with rare high ceilings and large windows. The photo with all of the books on the shelves is what it looked like when we first saw the house. It didn't look like it belonged in the room and actually made it look really small when the space is really a pretty decent size. I didn't have the vision that Paul did when I first saw them and I wanted to take them out completely, but I am glad my wonderful husband saw their potential! Him and his dad worked hard to plan how to cut out a space and rearrange shelves so that it could actually be used as our entertainment center. Once all the cutting and sanding had been done, we got to painting. With the help of our good friend Peter, we painted the backsplash a light mocha color and painted the shelves and all the edging with the Swiss Coffee we used on our trim to make it look much brighter in the room. Obviously we still have a ways to go (the next thing I am going to tackle in the room is going to be those roman shades! Those ugly colored stripes have got to go!) but the major bookshelf renovation is complete!