Library Corner

Since we're currently working on a few home improvement projects, most revolving around our little lovelies, I thought I'd share the last home improvement project that we completed in September.  Back then, I took pictures to be able to share on the blog, and then time got away from me.  But it definitely deserves to be shared:)

It all started about a year and a half ago when I saw a tutorial on Pinterest on how to use rain gutters to create bookshelves.  I ran the idea past Brad for the empty corner of our playroom, and he was up for the challenge.  We agreed the lonely corner needed a little something, and I wanted it to be a little library for the kids.

{See the empty corner?}

So here's how that Pinterest-fail went down.  I went online and ordered the materials we needed for corner bookshelves.  Then Brad drove to the home improvement store to pick up the materials after I received an email that said materials were in stock and ready for pick-up.  That turned out to be a big lie.  So after driving an hour and a half and coming back with half of the necessary materials and speaking to various people on the phone about the lack of customer service, we were no closer to having adorable bookshelves.  

Brad drove one more time out to the store when they believed they had gathered the correct missing pieces; they had not.  We returned everything and attempted to order materials through an online warehouse.  They sent us the wrong materials.  In addition to that, the rain gutters seemed really bulky, much bigger than they appeared in photos, and flimsy.  We weren't loving anything about this idea anymore, so we bailed. 

And for several months I window-shopped and browsed the Internet for better options.  It seemed like maybe we would end up with Ikea spice racks, painted white, but Brad wasn't sure that they would look good in the corner.  Too much wasted space, he thought.

So I went back to the drawing board.  

Ikea has these really nice picture ledges, but they were either too short or too long for our walls, and they didn't meet at a corner.  I showed them to Brad, and he really liked them.  But he also knew he'd have to do a lot of work to get them to look the way we envisioned.  He was game:)

Ensue a shopping trip to Ikea in which I lost my phone.  Or rather - my phone was stolen.  Yeah, you remember the story.

Once the picture ledges were home, we Brad had lots of measuring, cutting, painting, sanding, etc. to do before the shelves were ready.  Especially since the walls that are supposed to be a perfect corner were not.  And because Brad was once a little boy, he figured that at some point, the kids would try to climb the bookshelves like a ladder, which would cause destruction to the wall and the shelves.  So Brad made the shelves like a ladder.  They are strong enough to hold the weight of the kids should they one day to decide to climb up, but shhhh...we didn't tell them this:)  I failed to take pictures of all of this hard work - I'm not sure why, but I'm sure it had to do with two little lovelies who needed or wanted something at the time.

But I did take pictures of the finished product.  Brad is super-proud of this corner, and he should be.  It took so many hours of work, but it looks so nice when we come up the stairs and look into the playroom.  It might be our favorite corner in the entire house:)

See for yourself:

It's a happy place in our home, and we love it!