Adding Built In Bookcases

Hooray! We made it to the fourth week of the ORC: Adding Built In Bookcases to our Books and Bourbon Library.

Welcome to week 4 the 2020 fall season of the ORC: Adding Built In Bookcases. This season we are designing our library space and this week we are currently adding store bought bookcases are creating a custom built in look for our Books and Bourbon Library.

WEEKS AT A GLANCE:

WEEK 1     WEEK 2     WEEK 3   WEEK 4    WEEK 5     REVEAL

Just in case you maybe wondering exactly what The One Room Challenge is, here is the link, and the scoop. This event was originally started by Linda Weinstein @ Calling It Home. It is currently hosted twice a year, in April and October for the past 16 seasons. The ORC has hosted over 500 interior designers & home decor bloggers, that have joined together in this challenge to makeover one room in their own homes.  The participants have a total of six weeks, from start to finish, to complete a full room transformation. Over 4,400 rooms have been transformed through the One Room Challenge to date, and many spaces have been recognized and featured by several prestigious sites, like Better Homes and Gardens the hosting media site this season.

THE LIBRARY BEFORE PICTURES:

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Inspiration Board: The Book & Bourbon Library

Last week we focused on adding tile to our custom build out for our new electric fireplace. This week we are concentrating on getting the very important bookcases built, which will house the Books and Bourbon portion of the entire library. While the fireplace may have been the inspiration for the room, this is probably the most important decor piece for the entire project, given that is it going to be a library.We purchased our bookcases from World Market on the friends and family 40% off sale, so we were able to purchase a set of 3 bookcases and the ladder for the same price as 2 bookcases, which is a total steal. This is how we will create the look of a built in custom wall unit. While there was some assembly required, it took only a few hours to complete the entire build out of the 3 large units. I will say a great hack for box furniture like this is to cut the allen wrenches so they will fit into your drill like a normal bit. This will save you a lot of time.Once we got all the bookcases assembled and located into their final homes on the wall, which means they are completely centered from each end and then it has to pass my sightline eye test which is how does it look to my eye, which is really all that matters at the end of the day, lol.For this step of the process I highly recommend that you attach slider feet to the base of the cabinets for easy sliding. This will save your floors and your back in the long run.  Once everything was lined up in the room to my satisfaction we installed the safety anchors these are to keep the bookcases from accidentally tilting over on top of children, pets or people. These are attached with anchors and zip ties directly into to wall behind the cabinets. The next step was to get all of the shelves installed while Ron built the ladder for this unit. We also decided to attach the cabinet together at this point so there would not be a gap between them. You can see the gap below, however after taking a few short dry wall screws into the cabinet upper corners, that issue was quickly resolved. Once all the shelves were installed, it was time to start filling them up with all of the books and bourbon to create the library of our dreams. We also wanted to integrate a few found artifacts from various trips and worldly excursions to create added interest to the shelves. This was simply the fun part where your creativity gets to take over.

I opted to keep the center shelve as our bourbon and additional bar area, for serving ease, while placing all of the books by category into specified nooks.

For example, you can see all of my dream reference books are in one area. I used categories like home decor, cooking, fiction, psychology, poetry, gardening and self improvement; they all have separate sections in the library.

So next week we will be adding in a little additional needed light to read by with our beautiful chandelier that just arrived.  Then just a few of my final touches before the big reveal in two weeks!

THE PROPOSED SCHEDULE: 

WEEK 1: Introduction & Inspirations, Beams

WEEK 2:  Fireplace Install & Mantle

WEEK 3: Stone Tile Install

WEEK 4: Bookcases

WEEK 5: Adding a Chandelier

WEEK 6: REVEAL