Wall to Wall Built-In Storage

This was a bitter sweet project for us because it replaced our very first diy project; remember this very well built book shelf ? We have a lot more books and nick-knacks than the book shelf could hold. I also wanted something more fancy that we could serve as a decorative backdrop to the room. Because we spend so much time in this room, we felt the need to incorporate a lounge and guest room option into the project.

Before picture of game room

This project took a full day. We started at 8 AM with a run to the hardware store and finished a little after 5 PM (we did take a break for lunch). Our wonderful friends who own a local design and construction company helped us out a lot with this project.

List of supplies used:

• 11 - 3/4 x 11-1/4 x 8 White Melamine Square Edge Shelving (6)
• 14ft -  1.25” wide window and door casings
• 3/8" Poplar Buttons
• 1 - Antique White Paintable Latex Window and Door Caulk
• 2 - Valspar Base A Interior Satin Paint Sample
• 1-1/2-in x 18-Gauge Brad Nails
• ½ pint Spackling
• Putty knife
• Touch up paint roller kit

Here are pictures of the built in process

Cleaned out entire room

Melamine shelving and casings 

Shelves being assembled

Close-up of assembly

Measure twice, cut once 

Added support bar to screw into wall

1 side completed

Poplar buttons painted and used to cover screw holes

We attached the units to the studs using the bars at the top and finished up with some caulk. The casings were attached to the fronts using a finish nailer and the holes were filled before painting.

The same thing was done again for the other side of the room. Both sides are identical and the space in the middle is enough to fit a standard day bed with about 4 inches on both sides.

We added two shelves across the middle and used the 2 vertical pieces of wood to add some support to the shelves. 

We picked out most of the decorative pieces from what we had acquired over the years and purchased a few items. One fun thing we decided to do was to both have 1 shelf that we decorated completely to fit our styles.

Guess who "owns" which shelf

 The awkward space left by the support bars actually came in handy. We got to hang "Family" rules and and a crown which means something special to us. Some people who know us may guess :)

Top 2 rows

 We made the artwork using upholstery fabric and come colored cardboard and a garage sale gold frame.

Gold & Black Cardboard

Sewing supplies came in handy 

A colorful display

Panoramic View

Operation Guest Room Recovery

Remember this padded headboard and these side tables and this guest room reveal? Well, we decided to upgrade the entire guest room using the same materials and spending little to no money. It's great to see how far we have come in 2 years. We have worked on some amazing projects and still have a lot more lined up that just amaze me. I’m so excited and thankful for how how far JT and I have come. We also have amazing friends/mentors who have been instrumental to improving our home decor, woodworking and designing skills. 

First off, here is where we started from. 

Guest Room Before

Not too bad but the side tables were starting to bother me (seeing as we are now such great builders :) ). I really hated our attempt at staining the wood; the construction was a little too shabby. Our first move was to disassemble all 4 side tables and reconstruct them into 2 side tables. We wanted to maintain a modern look with open storage so JT and I came up with a design. The original tables were 2 different sizes so the resulting tables are 2 different sizes. 

new design

We painted them grey and added a silver drawer pull to give the illusion of a drawer. I am pretty sure some guests will pull on the dummy drawer and be shocked .

side table with grey paint

The next project was a quick one, I updated the map shades. I wanted to the lamps to the side table. I followed this tutorial here without the ribbon.

materials used

refinished lamps

And finally the Pièce de résistance….the head board!!!! We got some lovely purple upholstery fabric that was on Mega sale with silver nail head trim to update the headboard.

We wanted some curves to the room so after taking of the backing fabric and taking off come of the foam and batting we measured some points, used a bowl to cut off the curve and then used the first piece to cut out the second piece

cut off 2 corner arcs using a plastic bowl

Next, we roughly cut off about 1/2 and inch off foam around the top and sides for the nail head trim.

The hardest part by far was adding on the nail head trim. That took about 2 hours while everything else took minutes. We started with the top, continued to the right side and finally the left side. 

 

adding the nail-head trim

We used a cover button kit to make 7 buttons. After some measurements we placed 3 buttons on the top row and 4 buttons on the bottom. The bottom half of the headboard is covered by pillows so we didn't see a need to have more than 2 rows. We passed the buttons through the holes using a long embroidery needle and embroidery thread. 

back view of holes for buttons

Buttons on 

Finally, with some team effort and nip-tucking we secured the bottom using the staple gun. I reinforced the entire perimeter at the back then attached the back cover to kepe things neat (felt from the old headboard)

back cover to keep things neat and tidy

These were a really fun projects, it took about a day to get all three projects done.

ready for guests 

I believed Operation Recovery was a success if I do say so myself.

Happy New Year

It feels like I haven't been on here forever…….. well maybe because I haven't been on here forever. First off, I gave the blog a much needed face lift!!!! Please tell me you noticed the new look. I took some time off blogging but never stopped home improvements and DIYs. Just in case you don’t know, I really really really really enjoy re-creating and dreaming up things.

JT and I have worked on a few projects over the past month and I plan to post weekly to keep you all in the loop. However be warned, it may not be a full DIY post, it could be a sneak peek picture, some tips or just whatever I feel like posting.

Enjoy!!!!