One Room Challenge Week 4| Devil's in the Prep

Holy Mama we're in week 4! We are getting down to the wire here in our One Room Challenge hosted by Linda of Calling it Home.

If you're just joining me (HI!) and you can start with our initial plans here.

I wish I could say we've made HUGE progress, but we are still slow and steady. That's okay...it WILL get done. Mr. Wright (aka the husband) has been working hard on plans for our shining star of the room, the built ins.  After many tweaks, revisions, and trips to the hardware store later he has a plan and is building and making cuts as I write!

So here's where we are-

Because we're weeks away from the reveal it's SO important we order all. the. things. to ensure enough time for processing and shipping.  So finalizing our built in plans was a must so that we could order our picture light's (and many other things) to go above the bookcases. Lemme tell you figuring that out was no small feat...
First here's how fancy they are:

via

LOVE! Our built ins are composed of 5 Ikea Billy Bookcases of varying width which posed a challenge in determining how many lights we needed. One above each bookcase? 3? 4?
We resorted to the ol painters tape method!

Here's a reminder of where the built ins are going-

And here's our 3 options we taped out:

Because I had already selected the lights I knew their exact dimensions (14 inches). We also knew the dimensions of our bookcases as well as the space between so my husband taped a skeleton draft of the bookcase and light's with the painters tape to see our options. 

Option A: 3 lights with the center light center to the unit

Option B: Evenly spaced and no center light

Option C: Light above each bookcase and a center light

So after weighing each option and phoning a friend we decided on good ol option A.  I liked the cost savings of only having to purchase 3 lights and aesthetically I liked having a center light. So that meant option B was out (no center). And while Option C also had a center light it would have been about $60 more expensive and visually looked cluttered. Hey, that $60 savings is another accessory or two for the room! 

Another super important decision in the ol built in was 'what the heck color am I going to paint the backs?'.  I had narrowed down my choices to either a light pink, blue, or grayish black but from there I was stumped.  So, I turned to a sweet friend of mine to do a little photoshop magic for me. I just needed to SEE these options and Pinterest was failing me.  Does no one in blog land have the back of their bookcases painted pink?! (Thank you Lora from Craftivity Designs for my images). 

Here's what she sent me:

Sherwin Williams Naval

Sherwin Williams Peppercorn

Sherwin Williams Breathless

(Bookcase courtesy of Centsational Girl).

Actually 'seeing' this decision was sooooo much better for my brain! I was easily able to rule out the pink. It's sweet but not the vibe I'm going for in this space.  

Then there were two...and boy was this hard.  I really loved the navy against the white shelf.  I know I'll have lots of gold accents which will sit beautiful against the navy. But the same is true for the moody grey/black.

 When I put the two options to Instagram there was an overwhelming win in the navy department! So what did I pick?

Let's just say it wasn't the most popular vote! 

Peppercorn!! My gut was telling me to choose this color and that's what I did. Funny thing is I must have an affinity for it because once I brought it home I realized I have a credenza painted in this exact color.  No joke.

I went with this color because there are a lot of blue accents in this room.  I worried blue on the bookcase also would overwhelm the space.  Peppercorn seemed like the perfect marriage of the glossy black chairs, the blue accents, and the blush throughout the space.  I'm so excited to see it all together!

Here she is 1 coat down.  It was cold in that garage so one coat was all she got for now.  

The back of the IKEA billy bookcases were surprisingly easy to paint-I worried the paint would just slip right off.  I used the all purpose enamel line from Sherwin Williams and a purdy roller and it went on great. If you know that you're going to end up painting/wallpapering/adding fabric to the back of your bookcases this is the way to go! Doing this work prior to assembly makes life so much easier. 

Meanwhile the husband was hard at work prepping the hardwood floor for the base of the built in.

Why are we cutting away the floor you may ask? Well, I asked my husband the same question so I could tell you all! Let me tell you...he does NOT like me to questions his ways in these matters.  And that's okay, because whatever he does always turns out amazing.  But, the answer in this case is that eventually we want to replace the floors with a higher quality hardwood.  Annnnnd no one wants to rip out this bad boy we're about to put in so he thought we'd save a step by just installing it right on the sub floor.  And there you have it.  

So where are we now? Installing the base for the built ins!

How is that being done? I have zero idea.  The husband promised me a step by step to share with you all when he's done---so until then "trust the process". 

And that my friends is the makings of the base.  We'll be putting fiberboard in the front and painting it all white to match the bookshelves and then adding decorative picture rail molding.  My poor husband was up until at least 3 am making this happen. Love him.

That's all for now! By week 5 I'm hoping to call these built ins DONE!

Oh, and check out all the other amazing guest participants here!. 

And don't forget to head to ATG (one of our gracious sponsors) for a pretty sweet deal! With coupon code OneRoom100 you can take $100 off your order of $199 or more! I know there is something else surely your new room is dying to have, why not save $100! That's like a free lamp! 

See you Week 5 friends!!