Best Friend Favour

I have this wall in my dining room that has been bugging me, design-wise, since we moved in. There have been many different storage and display "solutions" to grace this space. Dark burgundy bookshelves, a white pantry, one lonely LACK shelf. And some days it was just covered in pictures and paintings so I wouldn't have to really deal with it.

Ultimately, I was worried that whatever I put up there, no matter how permanent or temporary, I would end up hating it sooner or later. Cause that's how I roll! My "design sensibilities" are ever-changing. I knew I would need something super simple and easy to install, cheap, and easy to move (when we move) or just leave behind.

I have been seeing these simple (simple) bracket shelves in magazines and on the Internet lately. And I had a flash of inspiration, and confidence! This was it!! It fit the bill, and was just industrial enough and bare bones enough to work and (maybe, potentially) not make me hate it in a month! And I could put all my books on it. All of them. And I love books as decor. Much more than decor as decor.

And now for the installation............which was obviously going to require some sort of skill. i.e. more skill than I have when it comes to hanging things! Also, a second pair of hands might be helpful.

And so I asked BFF for a favour.

This was a big deal for me. I don't ask for favours. I don't ask for anything. I like to keep to myself, and just figure it out and muddle through...yeah...there are other issues there that I won't get into today. All that you need to know is that he said yes! And we made a shelf-install date.

Did I mention he's a carpenter?

I got to use his fancy (professional, expensive) drill. And I didn't swear or make any extra holes in the wall then necessary...well...maybe a couple. Ha! And it didn't even take that long. And he had a much better solution for the actual shelves part than I had! And I was so happy after he left, I just sat and stared at my lovely, straight, solid & sturdy brackets. Sigh...a thing of beauty is a joy forever.

Did I mention he's awesome?

So I spent the rest of that Saturday (many Saturdays ago) driving around town looking for 1x8x10 boards that I could paint. Thanks to the lovely young gentleman at Totem who helped me out, then proceeded to cut each board by hand down to my specified 9 feet. And then carried the boards to the cashier, and then just kept carrying them out the door to the truck! Sigh....sometimes it doesn't hurt to be a cute girl!

And then I got to some painting....with help from the Dude! He was so cute, and messy. Hey BFF, I guess I found me a stud after all!

(wow this is turning in to a long post...)

And then many weeks went by...or maybe just two. And the shelves sat in Mom's garage waiting for the perfect moment to come home. Re: I needed someone with a saw to come to my house and cut them all to fit cause I just knew they would be too long.

Thank goodness I have other handymen in my life...Heath. The day before my birthday Mom & her sweet sweet husband came over with the saw. Russ measured and marked, Heath cut, and my shelves made their way in to place.

And then I immediately started filling them up with my books!

This whole project was definitely a group effort but so very worth it.

(here it is a week later, still a mess work in progress, but I still love them!)

later loves

p.s. I seemed to have conquered a little bit of the anxiety and panic that comes with having people in my house, even if it was "only" BFF. But that's a whole other post!