Our Current Project

I think this is the first time I've done a post on an in-progress project!  I guess it's because I've been playing catch up for the last few months.  Well, Doug and I decided to tackle the office.  Our office is located downstairs-- it's the first downstairs room we've tackled.  This project has got to be one of the longest most drawn out project we've ever attempted.  We tore the office apart after Emerson was born and once Doug was back at work, but with two kids and busy schedules-- things tend to move a little slower.  But finally, the office is in its last stages!  I thought I'd share it with you all.

Like most people, we have lots of books and stuff that needs a spot (boxes in storage doesn't count!)  So, we decided to put in some custom bookcases.  Here they are-- in the priming/filling/sanding stages.

We put in new laminate (had a few extra boxes leftover from the upstairs reno) and installed new mouldings.

There is this awful bumped out half wall along two sides of the office that are terribly uneven.  To disguise the fact that it is really out of square we decided to cover it in bead board and cap it off with a built out ledge.  I think it's going to look awesome once it's all painted.  The half wall no longer sticks out like a sore thumb!

Here's the "before" shot.  Please excuse the blurry picture quality-- I can't blame this terrible picture on Caleb, I totally took this one myself.  The green isn't a bad color-- it just made the room feel pretty dark.  As you can see, the shelving situation has received a bit of an upgrade. 

Let me tell you,  I am SO anxious to finish up in this room so that I can move all my files back in and get organized.  The state of our files are pretty embarrassing-- especially coming from someone who once was in charge of coming up with a system of converting a entire university's paper admission files into electronic files.  Every time I have to find some sort of document I am absolutely horrified at how disorganized things are downstairs.  Once this office is done-- I will be putting an end to the chaos!

Wanna know a secret?  The built in bookcases are actually from Ikea!  I've seen people convert Ikea's Billy bookcases into built in custom-looking shelves in magazines and online-- so we thought we'd save ourselves some work and give it a try.  

They received a bit of an upgrade-- bead board on the back instead of the flimsy cardboard Ikea sells you with the bookcases, we built up the base, added a substantial header and crown moulding, the one exposed end gable received a customized panel, and we trimmed out all the joints to make it look like one unit, not three.  The jury is still out as to whether or not this was a better option than building the shelves ourselves...

Once the priming and painting is finished, I'll show you how it looks!