Oh Billy!

So it may sound silly but when Evanicio is gone I generally undertake a project.  I'm not sure why.  It is probably the worst time to do projects, but for some reason it helps me make it through the time he is gone.  He was gone for the majority of June so of course I decided to undertake a project that I had been thinking about for awhile. (Yep I started ripping molding off at about 11 pm at night that is just how I roll!)

And so Billy Bookcase Built in Project started.  I'm sure if you ever view DIY Blogs or use Pinterest you have seen something like this before.  Those people make it look easy.  And I'm not saying it was as hard as from scratch but for my skill level this was a HUGE project!  Luckily I have two handy brothers that helped me get the ball rolling.

Oh and another thing you should know about me is generally if I want to do one project, in this case the book cases, another project always happens in addition.  So I painted the walls and ceiling in the office and half bathroom as well as painted all the pine wood trim white.  I did all this before my brothers came.

Evanicio was home long enough to help me get the book cases from store to home.

Thanks goodness trying to get those boxes with two kids by myself would have been horrible.

Then as family arrived I had them help.  My Mom and sister helped me put them together.  (It wasn't hard but much easier with two people.)

Then my two brothers showed up.  They showed me how to use the nail gun I was borrowing (I loved it!) and I put my newly painted baseboards back on.  John put the doors on the book case (Yes I'm laughing and assisting.) 

John was only able to stay for a short time but he helped a ton!  

At that point I will admit I started freaking out a bit. My other brother was up for the main purpose of watching my Sisters kids while they were gone and everything I was trying to do seemed to be taking 5x longer than planned.  I was stressed.  I had took on this project thinking i would have tons of help and realized that I would be completing it on my own!  

My poor brother realized that I was in over my head and worked like a crazy man to get the supports put on before he left.  It is hard to see but all those pieces of wood were needed so we could nail in the covers.

He also ripped and cut the base molding so it would be ready to attach.  He left me in as good of a situation as I could hope for but I was still overwhelmed.  The DIY blogs make it look so easy, and sometimes I forget that I'm just a beginner at all this.  

Annoyed at myself I jumped in.  Evan was gone and I was on my one so every night after the boys were in bed I would work.  I found out that I LOVE table saws!  I think I will need to get one as soon as I figure out a good space for it.  I ripped some pieces to cover the spaces and primed and painted them.

My Garage made a great workshop but I really am jealous of my dad's workshop wow I never realized how awesome that is!  Oh yeah and like I mentioned I had decided to paint walls and trim in my half bath as well as change the mirror.  Luckily that got put back together faster than the office.

I spent a few days trying to figure out the crown molding for the top of the book cases.  I watched You tube videos and read DIY blogs and sites.  I was TERRIFIED.  I may or may have not cursed and cried a little.  I wanted to have the book cases done before Evan got home (he wasn't sold on the project and to come home to it half done wasn't going to sell it to him.)  So I sucked up my pride and asked a friends husband, that I knew knew more than me about crown molding, to help me.  He gladly accepted.  He told me that even knowing how to cut it crown molding is just a pain.  So I felt a little better.  He cut it and nailed it up for me.  I nailed up the strips and baseboard...it was starting to come together I was elated........

But then I realized one of the small side pieces of the crown molding wasn't on well and intact fell off in my hands.  UGHHHH!

Seriously not a fun moment for me.  I was so close but all the sudden I was stuck with a hard decision.  I had to suck up my pride and ask my friends husband to come back and cut another piece (I really didn't want to do that since I felt bad about asking in the first place.), cut it myself, or make it work.  The piece was pretty beat up but after some possibly not so glamorous moments on my end I got it back up there and wood puttied the heck out of the entire bookcase.

Then I sanded and painted and WA LA!  This was what my husband saw when he walked in the door from his business trip!  So glad I was able to pull this off with the help of so many talented and gracious people helping!  A huge thanks to all of you!