Cheap Built-ins….

I’m almost ashamed to say that I haven’t done a THING to the office since we added the wall back in May. I mean NOTHING. I haven’t hung a thing on the wall, or put anything on the desk… NOTHING.

Well, I did get some new colored fine-tip Sharpies, and they’re in one of the drawers in the desk, but they didn’t do much to make the office prettier…just my doodling! :) They do make a fine addition to my dwindling quickly (thanks to a little someone who’s name is “AB”) scented Mr. Sketch markers. Do you not love those? Orange is my favorite. I could sit and sniff it all day. I don’t, I’m just saying I could. Ha… :)

Our “old” office, is right off the master bedroom, and I had gotten a couple cheap bookshelves when we moved in three years ago for it. We bought one short one and one tall one.

I finally got motivated to do something in the new office…

The back wall is 13 feet long, so it’s a pretty good sized space to try to fill. I have always loved the look of Pottery Barn & Ballard Designs office systems, but right now, the price isn’t in the budget!

I knew I wanted something nicer looking than my cheap ‘ole Target shelves, though! So DW and I decided we’d make a faux looking built-in with our cheap shelves.

Here’s what we started with

We added one more tall one and one more short one. Together, they cost us $50.00! Not bad! :)

We decided to do the 2 short ones in the middle, flanked on each side by the tall ones. To make it look like one solid unit, we decided to add a shelf across the top, and put some crown molding to add to it’s look.

We went to Lowe’s to get all the boards and molding. I gave them a couple coats of black paint. And since I was getting on DW’s nerves clicking pictures and he’d already caught me on my phone posting our “Home Project” status to my Facebook, I painted him little message on one of the boards! :) Gotta keep the bossman happy. :)

While I was busy painting away, he was putting together the two new shelves. When we got them placed next to each other like we’d planned, we ran into some trouble… They shelves weren;t exactly the same as the old ones. First “DERN IT” of the project. The smaller one’s bottom shelf was lower than the others. To fix it, DW just added some “legs” to the bottom using some scrap wood from our playroom bookcase project.

We were back in business! We got all the shelves placed where we wanted them and attached to one another using some screws.  We then added the board (“shelf”) across the top and the crown molding. We also ran into another difference between the old shelves and the ones… the old ones had a piece of wood across the top of each shelf that the new ones didn’t… so DW had to add that, too.

 

After all the trim molding was added to the sides and bottom, we filled the nail holes and touched up the paint. I also painted the holes for the adjustable shelves black to keep them from screaming, “I’m a cheap bookshelf!”…

Here’s the finished product…  

I’m really pleased with how they turned out! I can’t wait to get some stuff on the shelves… I am thinking some color! It’s looking like A LOT of black right now.

Last week I’d found a HomeGoods giftcard in my wallet and there wasn’t a phone number to check the balance on it. I figured there was like under $10.00 left on it, so when AB and I went grocery shopping on Monday, I ran by to check the balance… It had $48.00 on it!!! Woo-Hoo!!! We shopped around for a few new things for the office and came home with this lamp and this “W”.

I loved the lamp, but once I got it home, I didn’t like the way it looked in the office, so I’m going to return it. The “W” will go on top of the shelves and I think it will look great!

I DO want a Parson’s Chair & slipcover from Ballard for the desk, though… maybe in one of these fabrics…  

The black check with a bright green “W” monogram, or a black one on the solid green chair…

This red toile would be pretty, too, I think… But hello, red & black… there’s no way my man would go for that… (Can you say, Georgia Bulldog colors?!?)  It stinks, because a big red monogram on that black check chair would be so cute, too…

AB & I are meeting up with Carrie & AC on Thursday, so we may have to go into Ballard so I can drool over my chair and pick out the fabric in person so I can put it on my Christmas wish list! :) Santa, are you reading?!?!?

I’m not going to lie and say this project was “SUPER EASY”, but it wasn’t “SUPER HARD” either. It took us about 4 hours from start to finish and while it’s a far cry from Pottery Barn or Ballard, I think it looks really good!

Hopefully it won’t take me 5 more months to get some stuff hanging on the walls and on the shelves! But I’m not making any promises!

~amw~