HAPPY MUNDAY! it's the new running joke at work ... now that i've swapped out my old work email for my new one complete with new last name, everyone's getting in on it. "just another manic munday" "happy monday, munday". ... blah blah blah, munday. if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
what a weekend!
wade and i are feeling super accomplished. our bedroom checklist is getting very slim: still waiting on supplies for our bedside lamps and now completely inspired to sand and restain the desk his parents brought us on saturday. but we can't stop staring at our new BOOKSHELVES!
{it's a bit blurry ... i'm still working on manual focus.}
mission totally accomplished. have you ever seen anything so sexy in your entire life!?!
the final bookshelf is 8'8" wide by 7'6" tall and a little over 11" deep. {wade and i thought our ceilings were 11' tall ... well they're more like 9' ... so after purchasing supplies to build 5 shelves high we returned one shelf, 3 18" pipes, 3 8" pipes, 3 90º elbows, and 3 3-way tees. NOTE: always measure before. lesson learned.}
our {blog}spiration,
the brick house, used 1/2" pluming pipe which the spray painted black. instead, we used 1/2" black iron pipe because our shelving unit needed to be super heavy duty for all of our books. this of course meant a bit more $$.
all in all we spent about $450 on the shelves. not bad considering earlier we were looking into these bad boys at 5' wide x 6' tall for $1095 on
vivaterra.com.
the supply list:
fittings:
15 – 90º elbows
13 – 3-way tees
6 – base flanges
pipe:
15 – 18"
13 – 8"
3 – 9" (for the top flange connectors)
wood shelves:
4 – 1" thick x 12" wide x 10' long oak planks (cut down to 8′8″) ... {NOTE: this is where the bulk of our budget went}
other:
drill
1" hole bit
ebony minwax stain
medium grit sandpaper
dish soap + goo gone ... to clean up the pipes.
step stool
prep:
for the boards, we measured and drilled 3 holes into each plank along the front edge. we then sanded giving each board rounded edges and corners. and last stained the boards a lovely dark color. for the pipes, we cleaned all the grease off the pipes and goo gone-ed the stickers. (worst part of the whole process!)
{our fantastic work zone ... the communal front porch. it will be nice to someday have a garage!}
{and one of my lumberjack!}
build:
everything screws together! build your base and then slide the first plank on - this secures the base so you can continue to build up. then wade secured it to the wall with some screws through the flanges. {for additional support, you can screw the base flanges into the floor as well - but that will have to wait until our apartment living days are over.}
THE FINAL PRODUCT ... with some quick styling of the majority of our books:
we LOVE it. in fact, you might find us sitting on the bed staring at it ... ha!
and amazing there's plenty of extra space on the shelves. wade is considering extra books that he needs. and together we're going to hit up rummage sales and flea markets for knickknacks we can use as bookends.
would you believe it we accomplished quite a bit more over the weekend too!?! in an attempt to gain some photography skills, i've been following wade around with his camera. a few fun shots from the weekend:
saturday morning i fixed up some apple almond waffles from scratch. wade and i agreed "waffle saturdays" are a new family tradition. {see, mom, we are using our waffle maker after all!}
our bed all made up in new linens from pottery barn. imagine it with 2 bedside lamps ... coming this week!
and last but not least ... this fantastic find (which doubled as wedding guest book) - just $20 at an antique store. and she works beautifully. wade copied a little poem ... "the birds and the bees" by joaquin miller. ironically appropriate for a newlywed bedroom? no ... it has nothing to do with those birds and bees.
