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Sunday, January 27, 2013

Built-in Bookcases


While my house is a new construction, it's designed to mimic craftsman style.  That's part of the reason why my husband and I decided on this house as our first.  It has the trim details lacking in most new houses but it also has the conveniences of new homes (walk in closets, attached garage, and no major updates required).  However, it did lack one thing that I find almost essential in a craftsman house: no bookcases flanking the fireplace.  I realize not every craftsman home has bookcases around the fireplace but this house was obviously built to have them.


This is the "before" picture with two gaping holes around the fireplace.  So I asked my handy husband very nicely if he would consider either building bookcases or hiring someone to do it.

Having recently purchased this house, we didn't have a lot of extra money to hire someone and my husband is a bit of a perfectionist so he decided to build them himself.  And I'm so glad he did because they look wonderful!


He started by removing the existing baseboard trim so we could save a little money and reuse it.


He framed out the base.


I wanted to have an outlet on the bookcases so I wouldn't have to hide cords.





We painted the bookcases the same color as the trim to make it look like they had always been there.


We were able to reuse the baseboard.


We had to buy the top trim.  The hardware store didn't have the same trim that was on the fireplace but we found something pretty close.


I decorated with blue, green, and white because it gives the feeling of being outside.


Now the room feels like it has everything that it should.  I use this space as my "winter porch."  It has great morning sun which makes it the only room where the houseplants can survive.

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7 comments:

  1. Love these! Your husband did a fantastic job of making these shelves look like the fireplace as far as the trim goes. And putting an outlet on top is a great idea. -- Min

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  2. I love it! It looks like the shelves were always meant to be there and those globes are just awesome. Your ceiling is pretty cool, too!

    Angela

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  3. I love your bookcases! Your husband did a beautiful job.

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  4. those little windows were begging for these builtins! what a fabulous job and a fabulous transformation!

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  5. Simply beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

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