Friday, March 11, 2011

Thrift Find- Book Storage

A few weeks ago I posted about my theme for this year: Everything has a place. The lovely little book shelf my husband brought home was enough space for our ever growing collection of food related books, but we still had a plethora of other books to contend with. The formerly formal dining room in our home is an dumping ground for things we don't know what to do with. It has a recliner my husband doesn't like to sit in, an odd table, boxes of magazines, and a hanging chandelier that people can bump their heads on.

This room will grow as our family grows. I can imagine we'll gate this space off for future kiddos and then it will become the reading/homework room and the family computer will eventually reside in here. But for now it'll hold our newest book storage solution!

Isn't she lovely?! I found her at a local used furniture place. Actually "the place" is more like a steel Morton building with no heat that I was scavenging around in the middle of a January snow storm. But totally worth it! She's solid walnut and in good condition. The top portion is removable. When I saw her in the barn I called my husband (at work) to tell him how much I liked her. I had to give my disclaimer that this piece was more my style of furniture, but if he trusts me I know some minor tweaks would bring her to out of the 70's and into our home. (Now how could he not trust me!) So I put the money down, traded some babysitting for a friend to haul her home for me and there she sits. Eventually we'll put built in bookcases in this corner for a library effect, but for $150 I think I got an excellent deal. You can't buy a good Target bookshelf that won't sag for under that.

I promised my husband I would switch out the hardware and replace the woven thatch in the side panels. The hardware will be easy, the thatch is another thing. At first I thought it would pop right out and I would use it as a template for its glass replacement. Then we could see the books lost in the far right and left portions of the shelves. But its glued onto a solid piece of wood that runs underneath the trim. Hmmm. I may need someone with more knowledge to help me remove it.

The bottom portion holds all of our board games, odd household papers and some DVDs. I thought for sure the drawers would be able to store all our DVDs but the cases are 1/8'' to high! If they did fit, it would have been perfect.

6 comments:

  1. That's a great find, LeeAnn! I hope you'll post photos when it comes out of the 70s. :)

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  2. I'm gonna put this out there: I think the thatch is cool. But if it must go, what about covering it (maybe using a staple gun, which you may just have lying around) with a cool fabric?

    Also, love the bedroom paint color.

    And I'm still in awe that you're actually tackling the sofa project. Our new one arrived today. Photos to follow some time next week. Have a great weekend!

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  3. What a great find! It looks perfect for that space too. I have to admit I like the thatch too - it reminds me of the grasscloth wallpaper I see in decor books... but I do like the idea of more glass as well!

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  4. That is a lucky find! I also think the thatch is cool, but not everybody thinks agrees with my sense of cool. :D

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  5. Nice Book Storage. I like the concept very much of Book Storage. Thanks for sharing this ideas with us!

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  6. Great find. And great tip on using the floorboard to cut curtains. Last year I bought some ikea curtains that I needed to hem and, much as I tried, they ended up a little uneven. Now I know!

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