Transformation of a Living Room

Before: Shallow open bookshelves

What you can't see here is the shelves are so shallow that the cable box is practically falling off the shelf. We needed hidden storage! I immediately thought to put cabinet doors over the bottom. We quickly realized it would look much better to start from scratch with better materials and a more cohesive look.

Empty

Construction Begins...

We decide to wrap the bookcases around the wall:

Mahogany tops of bottom cabinets:

Progress and a new mantel!

The Man! Dan, our carpenter.

Looking good -loving the pull-out drawers below:

Completed Mantel

Unpainted, but finished room!

You can see what a difference this makes!!

WE LOVE OUR LIVING ROOM!

Our next steps:

~Get all of the woodwork painted and the mohagany counter tops stained.

~Tile around the fireplace surround (the black part)

~Order knobs

~Change Sconces and add picture lights over the bump-out part of the bookcases and over the freestanding boookcase to the left (not pictured above).

Happy Monday everyone!

Can Someone Please Buy This?

I did, and I LOVE it...but, alas, it is too big for our kitchen.

The cool thing with this fixture is that it is milky glass - so not see through. Very cool. The other finishes feature a semi see through glass...

The ceiling is so low at our house and there was a minimum hanging height of 27inches (it would have been perfect if we could have hung it really, really close to the ceiling- but the proportions would have been off). Unfortunately when we did a mockup of the pendant, it was like having a basket ball hanging in front of your face. I tried to make it work, but agreed with my husband that it would be a bit annoying to talk to anyone since you had to look/walk around it. Sigh. If you have a big kitchen with tall ceilings you could hang two or three of these over an island. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this light. So cool and such a good price at $321.00. see it at Lamps Plus (along with hundreds of other great Robert Abbey lamps and chandeliers...)