Bookcase in the Master Office
One thing I’ve been dying to get going on is the master office. It gets so much sun and is such a cute space. We are also in desperate need of a bookcase since I keep buying cool vintage books.
I picked up a Billy bookcase at Ikea last Thursday and got to assembling it. I covered the back in a large fabric remnant I found at my good discount fabric store. You may recognize it as the fabric I’m planning on using for curtains in the dining room.
After the bookcase was up and running, it’s time to fill it. Oh man I had so much fun on Friday. I love staging bookshelves!
This is the vintage copies of classic novels shelf:
Reference works:
And a super cool picnic basket on top.
You can tell I’ve got more to go. I’ve got plenty of empty space to fill and a I have a pair of glass doors that I pulled off my old Billy bookcase. The doors last forever but the bookcase tends to only survive two moves before it falls apart. Luckily replacing a billy bookcase is easy peasy!
Sarah
Trash Removal
Do you remember the trash pile?
It sat at the end of our driveway growing ever larger with the intention of being removed someday, sometime. This was the beginning of the summer and it grew larger by the end but really, who takes photos of mounds of trash?
Well the radiator guys came Wed and after 3 hours of horribly back-breaking labor, Valentine was excited to come the next day and pick up the pile of trash.
Pick it up he did. They loaded it all, swept, raked, and hauled it all off. I don’t know if there is a single before/after that I am more excited about than this trash removal. I guess the walls were also exciting but not tripping over splitered boards full of nails all the time is a luxury I had sorely missed.
Thanks Valentine. I appreciate it!
Sarah
Radiator Removal
We were checking the entire past week for professional removal companies in order to remove the old (nonfunctional) radiators we got with the house to make some extra space. The small group came at 3 on Wednesday. There were three guys and it took them only 2 hours to remove the seven radiators, the old cast iron tub, and carry the claw-foot tub up to the third floor. If your home is not as warm as you would like then there are specialist insulation companies that can help a great deal.
They were such pretty radiators but I’m glad to be rid of them.
This is the truck:
Don’t be fooled by them setting lightly against the tree. These things are HEAVY. So heavy it takes all of me and Stefan’s force just to slide them. The guys had a couple of tools to help them. One was this dolly with 2 pairs of different sized wheels:
I’m not sure how they got them up into the truck.
The house is practically floating now that all that weight is gone! It’s so nice to have recovered that space and Morei indicated that most of them were cracked which validates 100% our choice to get rid of them and go with forced hot air heating.
Sarah
Hardwood Floors, Bed, and Mattress
If you haven’t taken a look at round 1 of the hardware floor reveal, check out my earlier posts: Sanding and Poly and the one before that: Patching the Hardwood Floors.
I mentioned in my Florida Post that last week was a whirlwind. The floor guy came at about 10am on Monday. He buffed, vacuumed, and put the final coat of Polyurathane down. Tuesday evening, after a day in bed, I felt well enough to move the bed into the room and Wednesday we had a mattress delivered:
It’s a foam mattress so we let is breathe for a night and Thursday, I got to decorate my very first room in the new house!
The drapes are sheers from Ikea that I cut to size and hung on the centers of the old roller shades that were in the room. The hangers from the shades were already there so I figured I might as well use them!
The green fabric on the throw pillows is what I’m planning on using for the drapes around the large window to make it fill out the wall behind the bed.
Notice that there is electricity in the room. Stefan knocked that out Thursday evening while I was sewing pillow cases and curtains. The bedding is Lauren by Ralph Lauren that I’ve had since before we bought the house. I love the colors.
The bed side table we bought for $10 at an estate sale a few weeks ago and I painted it with leftover cream porch paint.
The chair is a craigslist find in Houston ages ago. I have 3 more just like it!
The room is hardly finished. It’s still a bit sterile for my tastes and when you lay in the bed, you can see what’s missing:
The trim on the door to the bathroom hasn’t been put up and there is a big open spot on the wall for a TV. But, check out this light fixture:
Yep, dangling bare bulb is all the rage there days…right?
If you take a peek in the ajoining office area, you’ll see there’s still work to be done.
But, we’re well on our way to a completed bedroom!
Sarah
P.S. Check out the new Contractors page where you can find info on all the nice people we’ve hired.
Tiffany
8/28/2013 | 4:39 pm Permalink
Your fabric lined shelf is fabulous adds to the vintage feel!!! Thank you for the much needed inspiration!! I just got 2 shelves and was wondering what else to do–besides paint them white!
sarahmzim
9/11/2013 | 3:38 pm Permalink
I’ve also cut foam-board and covered it for the same effect. That works particularly well for built-ins and fixed-shelf bookcases. it’s also much easier to change whenever the mood strikes!
I’m glad you like the inspiration. I’m a big fan myself 🙂