Mobile Home Makeover: Built In Bookshelf Edition

Hello and happy Wednesday! I am so excited to be sharing the project the hubby and I have been working on for the past week or so. I have long been wanting (and needing) a large bookcase to house all my books.

I love to read and I love to collect books. I saw a bookcase similar to the one we built on The Thrifty Decor Chick's blog a while back and knew I had to have one similar to it. So....let me show you mine.

Drum roll please.......

We built this on one of our dining room walls. Originally I have planned to use one end of my dining room sectioned off for a library, but after we removed everything from the room and opened it up, I decided to include the library in the dining room. I googled library dining rooms and found some gorgeous inspiration pictures, so I knew I wasn't the only one to decide to combine these two rooms. 

My unit is a little over 8 feet tall and 9 feet wide. I may someday give a tutorial on how we built it, but for now I will just say that we started with three upper kitchen cabinets to use as the base and built up from there. We installed lighting in the top which is so pretty when turned on. 

I have three 36" sections. The first and third sections have approximately 12" shelves, and the middle section has two 12" sections and two taller...around 19" sections to house bigger things. 

I am truly in love with this piece. I literally had tears in my eyes thanking my hubby for making my dream come true. He worked so hard on this project. He has worked hard on everything we have done so far. He works outdoors in the Florida heat and humidity every day and then comes home and puts in another 4-5 hours each evening in the house. I am so blessed!

Some day I will take some close ups and share the items on the shelves. They are full of memories and a few things just for fun. I love style and design, but I am a sucker for sentimental things and I hope my home reflects my love for both when I am finished. I think so far it does. 

I love the handles I ordered from Overstock. I have ordered many things from them over the past few weeks and am very satisfied with the deals and service I have gotten. These handles are so pretty...they remind me of fancy old silverware. Best thing is they came in a set of 10, so I have four left to do something fun with!

I also love the lighting we chose. All the hardware and curtain rods, door knobs,  lighting, etc, are nickel finish. I got a great deal on these at Lowe's. The folks at Lowe's should know us by first name...lol!

My camera doesn't take the best pictures, but here it is one turned on.

Another feature of my bookcase that I love is the cabinets at the bottom. They are a blessing! I had very little storage before, but now, I have room for all my junk dishes, glasses,  and serving pieces.

I have caught myself just standing and staring at my new bookcase more than once. It just makes me smile knowing the love with which it was built and that it is filled with so many memories. It is perfection to me...from the aqua blue wall, to the white painted shelves, the dark walnut stained shelf on top of the cabinets and the trim on front to frame it out,  the cabinets, the hardware,  & the lighting. Perfection! 

And....I can just see it at Christmas....:)

So, what do you think of my new built in bookcase? 

I hope you are having a lovely week my friends. I'll be back to share more soon. We are getting things done, but I won't do full room reveals until we finish the trim and that is very time consuming. It is all coming together though, so keep checking in!

I'm partying at the following blogs.....

French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday

Redoux Interiors for The Handmade Hangout

Kathe for You're Gonna Love It Tuesday

Marty for Inspire Me Tuesday

Until next time.....

Before & After Times Three

Hello friends...:) I'm sharing a few more before and after projects with you today. It feels good to finally have a chance to get to some of these projects. I have been waiting until we remodeled to refinish them so they would seem new to me. I needed a couple options for side tables in the living room. I didn't necessarily want to use tables, just a piece that would work for the purpose needed. First is this little cabinet.

I wanted something to hold all of our games and since I no longer needed it to hold my tablescaping dishes, I decided to use this little cabinet. It is pretty simple in design. I bought it at a yard sale a year or so ago and paid just $5 for it. I had originally intended to repaint it white, but when I got my black paint out for the legs, I decided to paint the whole thing black. I added glass knobs and called it done. What do you think?

The two games underneath wouldn't fit inside since they were too wide, but I found another home for them, so they aren't there any longer. And you can see below that it holds all my other games with a little room to spare. I was lazy pressed for time, and didn't paint the inside...that's another project for another day.

Next up is this little table. I wanted something at both ends of my new sofa and this was perfect for the job. I bought this piece a while back for just $1. It was pretty rough, but I knew a coat of paint would bring it to life. It's sitting on my paint table here....aqua, coral, and gold have been my spray paint choices lately.

I decided to paint it black as well, but before I did, I painted a white section on top. After it dried, I taped it off to create a faux vintage French grain sack stripe design. Not perfect, but I like it! I think it's pretty cute...:)  You can see a sneak peek of my new sofa here as well.

Many of you complimented me on my aqua blue lamps last week. If you missed them, you can see them here. Well, I had one more old brass lamp begging for a makeover. Seems she was jealous of the new outfits her closet neighbors got. So, I decided to give her a new outfit as well. Here she is before. I love the details on the base of this one...so pretty!

I wanted to add another touch of coral to the living room, so that's what color she got. She also got to wear the spiffy shade I already had. It was Target clearance a couple years ago. I had to add a few decorations around the living room...even though we still have all the trim to finish. Lots of my decor is packed in boxes still but I grabbed a couple things from around the house for now. I truly love the lamp...she is so pretty!

Seems all I have done lately is work on projects. I have been working on school projects as well. I'm excited about everything, but will be glad to get done so we can have a little rest before we start on our master bath. It has been fun though seeing my visions come to life. I have been waiting to do this for so long. Well friends, I am off to bed. It's late and I am leaving early to go to Gainesville with Mama in the morning. Have a wonderful week.

Until next time....

Before & After and a Sneak Peek!

Wow! It's been a little over a week since I last posted. I want to share a few before and after projects and a little sneak peek of part of my living room. I bought this pretty print of a painting at the Goodwill last week. I have been on the lookout for something similar. This one is 16 x 20. I love the colors in the bouquet but I wasn't loving the frame colors. I tried painting the green part white but didn't like it at all since the white was too bright for the painting. I had almost decided to leave it as is when it hit me last night to paint it satin nickel. All my new fixtures and hardware are in satin nickel finish so I knew it would blend in nicely. I decided to go for it and if I didn't like it, then I would just worry about it after the fact!

Here it is and I love it! Sorry for the glare. It was dark when I took this so the flash is on. And, it is sitting on my stove since that's one of the few clear surfaces in the house right now! This will be hanging in my dining room.

You may remember me telling you a few weeks ago about the free 16 x 20 print I ordered from Shutterfly for just $4.95 shipping. Well, it came in and I needed a frame for it, so of course I bought a used one. I found this one at the Hospice thrift for a couple bucks. Only problem was I didn't like the colors at all. And they did nothing for the print! So, I decided to go bold!

I painted it coral and I love it...a lot! This print will hang on my wood plank wall in my living room...eventually. I'm not hanging anything until we have all the trim done.

Next up is this lovely  sad looking pair of brass lamps. I have had these for a couple years just waiting for my remodel. My Aunt Loretta bought these for me at the thrift store for just over $1 each. She knew I could make them pretty. They actually look really good in the photo below. I had already sanded them and cleaned them. They were so nasty looking and even had some surface rust spots. I primed them before I painted them, but I am not sharing all those pictures.,,,not now anyway.

I painted them aqua blue...much better! They will sit on my buffet in the dining room. I have it painted, but still need to wax it and put the handles back on, so maybe I can share it soon. 

Here it is lit with the new shade. I left the plastic on the shade until I put them in place. We have so much dust in the air from the renovations. The shades are an oatmeal color and look really pretty with the aqua blue. The buffet is white and will sit against the dark wood plank wall we installed in the dining room. It's all going to be so pretty!

Just a fun picture of Sadie. She thinks she's a chihuahua...:) She loves to climb up in the hubby's lap and sit or lay on her back...lol!

OK...now just a little sneak peek. We still have so much to do...all the window trim, install new doors and trim them out, base boards, and crown, but we are getting there, I am showing you my new chair here. I love it! It has nailhead trim and is tufted. It has the cutest little legs too and is the perfect size for my small living room. You can see the new flooring here too. We got such a steal on this laminate at Lumber Liquidators last year and stocked up on it. It's the same flooring we used in the guest room last November. I love the color.

Here's the side of the chair arm....love the nailhead trim!

And here's a sneak peek at the plank wall with the newly painted credenza and my new chevron jute rug.It came from Overstock as well and I love it! Sadie does too...:) Some of you might have noticed the speed limit sign sitting there against the wall. The hubby bought that home from work. It is pretty old. No stickers on it, the letters and numbers are raised on the sign. He was going to hang it in his shop, but I asked him if I could hang it in the house. I love it...really love it. It's so cool and my living room art is going to be a little eclectic....things I have made, repurposed, and love. It's going to be awesome!

So, that's it for today. I have been busily redoing stuff during the day while the hubby is working and we work on the reno in the evening. We are currently working on a huge wall of built in cabinets and bookshelves in the dining room. I am beyond excited about this project and can't wait to finish it and share. It will hold so many things....of course it will hold all my books, but the cabinets will hold my tablescaping dishes and glassware, as well as all my crystal serving pieces. One of the cabinets will hold games and another will hold home decor items and miscellaneous things. I have always lacked storage in my mobile home and this piece will be a workhorse. It is going to be pretty too...just wait and see! I have one more bit of exciting news to share with you today as well. Most of my regular readers will remember me asking for special thoughts and prayers for my friend Heather who has stage 4 colon cancer. You may remember she had 4 spots on her liver and 3 of them were gone a couple months ago when they did her scans. Well, yesterday, she had more scans and the spot is still there, but it in inactive.....which means she is in remission! I am so very excited for her and she is so relieved, excited, and thankful. They will do blood work in a month and another PET scan in 2 months, but for now, she is done with her treatments! Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. You all are such a blessing to me and I am truly grateful for each and every one of you.

Until next time.....

From Drab to Fab & a Few Finds

Hello friends! I have a quick project to share with you today. I have a thing for mirrors...I have them all over my house and just love them. My favorites are the ones that were popular in the fifties.They were originally gold and are a resin/hard plastic material. They are typically oval and usually have beautiful floral and scroll designs. I have three of them and love them all! If I run across another one, it will reside outside. I am looking for the perfect mirror for the yard. Anywho, the one you see below was bought at a consignment shop a couple years ago and I paid $3 or $4 for it. It was already painted white and I left it that way because I liked it. I decided a couple days ago to give it a new paint job. I have been wanting to incorporate some coral into my design and this mirror was the perfect candidate. This mirror will probably hang over or around the buffet on my dining room plank wall. 

Here it is transformed into a coral masterpiece. Such a quick, easy, and cheap fix! I still have over half a can of coral and have a plan for it as well.

I love it! 

Now on to a few finds! Today I had to make my 117th trip to Lowe's..not really, but it feels like it at times! I'm not complaining though...I am so excited about all the changes going on in my rooms! We are 95% finished with the walls...just a small section of bead board left to install and then we can paint the dining room. After that, we can start on the floor. My rooms already feel so much bigger and brighter. I had to pick up some upper cabinets at Lowe's that will be used as the base for a huge wall of built in cabinets and bookshelves. I am so excited about this project and can't wait to share some progress. Unfortunately, we have to wait until the flooring is installed to begin. So, while I was out and about, I decided to run to a couple of thrift stores. And of course.....I found a few several things.

First up is this wooden piece that reminds me of a tile. It is about 12x12 inches and says Made in Canada on the back. Not sure what it is supposed to be, but I will probably be painting it, adding an H to the middle, and adding it to my eclectic gallery wall I'm collecting things for. It will be over my sofa in the living room. This was $0.79.

Next up I found this large...about 16-18" diameter wall clock for $3.20. The frame is gold and silver toned now but I will probably paint it black. It's really pretty in person. I just noticed a little bee peeking out behind the clock! That is something for my classroom. I'll be sharing classroom stuff before you know it!

I bought this beautiful Martha Stewart snowflake table runner to use this winter. it will go perfectly with some dishes I thrifted last year. It was just over $2.

Another vintage pillowcase for $0.40. Terrible picture...sorry!

At another thrift, I bought these two Williams Sonoma bowls for $0.30 each and the little white creamer for $0.69.

I bought these games to add to my board game collection. We like to play games when we get together with family and friends. Both of these sound fun and were like new for just a few dollars.

I bought this gorgeous J.Jill skirt new with tags. Check out the price on the original tag! Crazy! It was marked $9.99 but today everything was 20% off, so I got it for $8. I tried it on to make sure I liked it. It is so pretty. I looked it up online and the original price was $79.99 but you can buy it online for $25 now. I still got a great deal on it. I like wearing dresses and skirts to work...professional looking but comfortable to teach kinders in!

I didn't have any black dishes for tablescaping, so I bought these four salad plates for $0.20 each. They look brown here but they are black.

I forgot to share a few things I bought a couple weeks ago, so I'll share them now. I love this plate and will add it to my plate wall in the dining room. This is one of my favorites I have found over the years...love the yellow and grey! I think I paid $1 for it.

And I had to have this gorgeous white pitcher to add to my collection. It is around 8"-10" high and was just $2.99 I think. 

This sweet planter was filled with some silk violets, but I removed them. I love the shape and design of this piece. I believe I paid $2.99 for it as well.

Last piece and perhaps the sweetest is this adorable little bee skep pitcher. It is made like a little teapot with the handle and the lid comes off. I had to have it to go with my milk and honey theme. Isn't it precious? It was $2.99.

And, my last photo is this adorable set of small square bowls I bought at TJ Maxx. I love that store and never leave empty handed. This is the only purchase I made today. I was looking for lamps for the living room but didn't buy any today. I am still shopping around for a sofa and lamps. It's fun looking for the perfect things!

I hope you enjoyed my drab to fab mirror makeover and my new thrifty finds. It was fun to get out and about today and go shopping. I also had to go to the dentist for my 6 month cleaning and enjoyed chatting with my hygienist, Crystal. She told me about the cutest little gift shop and I visited after my appointment. I will share that soon as this post has gotten rather long. I hope you are having a fabulous week. 

Until next time.....