It's reveal day! Not gonna lie, I am so proud of myself for completing this project 100 percent on my own. I have been dreaming about a wall of built ins in my office since before we moved in. I pictured them there from the very beginning and they are better than I even hoped.
Let's go back and recap the steps, shall we? If you are going to attempt this on your own, these will be very helpful.
I have built a bookcase this size before, but my Dad helped quite a bit and I had help with lighting and the shelving as well. This time I was determined to do it all on my own and that I did.
This is how my office looked after I had finished unpacking all of the boxes. It was my dumping ground for a couple weeks after our move:
It's a lovely spot that gets great natural light. I love working in here!
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Last year I changed out the the light and a few months ago I pulled up the carpet and we had our hardwood floors put down:
I get asked about those grids often -- they are window grids I found at Goodwill years ago. :)
The first step in the built process was adding the kitchen cabinets as the bases:
I use upper cabinets because they are just doors and they have a slimmer profile. They still hold a ton of stuff! Be sure to check out that post to see how I make them look built in.
Then I hung the peel and stick wallpaper -- it's still a favorite!:
This time I broke the painting up into sections and goodness, it made it SO much more manageable! It also gave me an idea of how it would look, so I was much more motivated to get it done.
I shared the pretty green color I chose for the cabinets here:
I'm falling hard for green lately! I just love it.
Next up, I shared how I built the sides, supports and header for the built ins:
After I got all of that painted I was able to get the lighting up. I saved a bunch by using this lighting trick without electricity instead of having them wired:
And finally, I showed you the three steps to building the bookcase shelves here:
After that there was a lot of caulking and touching up to do. I added some trim to the header to finish it off as well.
I was so excited to finally start decorating these after all that work!
I used a lot items I've had in our storage room for nearly two years now! I was so thrilled to bring these back out:
I did get a few new items from Hobby Lobby and At Home as well.
I did a massive purge of our books after the move (wish I would have done that BEFORE packing them up) so the shelves aren't full of them, which I prefer.
When I was decorating the shelves I got to where I was nearly satisfied, then I removed a few items. I find that's often the key when accessorizing!:
I shared my tips on decorating bookcases in this post years ago. It still works now!
I finished these up in less than two months -- which is WAY faster than I took last time I did this. Overall the way I did things this time was quicker and more efficient:
But I am worn out! 😂 I'm taking a break from big projects for awhile!
Enjoy more pics of this space. I'll share resources at the bottom:
I hate to be that girl that shares so many pics of the same spot, but I'm dang proud of this so I'm doing it. ;)
Now for my favorite part! The before and after picks. Here's this room shortly after we moved in:
And the same view now:
And this view before:
And the after!:
I hope you enjoyed the process and will maybe try this in your own home! I kept a running list of costs at the beginning but stopped after a few weeks. I did estimate that I was going to end up at $1000 total for everything -- that includes the lights, paint, hardware...all of it.
I'd pay WAY more than that to have a this built for me. And it brings me great joy to do this stuff on my own!
I have more plans for the other side of this room that I can't wait to show you as well! I'm hoping to get that wrapped up next week sometime and I'll be sure to share that. :)
Here's a list of the items in this room in case you are interested!
- Sconces on bookcase
- Hardware on doors
- Wallpaper source
- Wood desk
- Rug and round mirror are from At Home
- Gallery wall with free bird prints
- Rolling desk chair, HomeGoods
- Pendant light
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