A Birthday Bookcase

After a hiatus due to preparing for a tap piece in a dance recital (all of May) and my youngest daughter's participation the nationals for National History Day (the beginning of June), I am blogging about one of the best birthday presents ever for a book lover: a floor to ceiling built-in bookcase complete with a window seat built by my husband. Because we have a dog, the window seat had to double as a nook for him--large enough to accommodate his dog bed and tall enough for him to access it comfortably.

The bookcase began as drawings on the wall: possible designs as well as dimensions used to create a materials list.

One of the designs included a bump-out pictured above which was rejected. With the exception of the window seat, the rest of the bookcase would be straight up and down.

Construction went rather quickly.

During construction, Butch and I tested out the window seat and found it satisfactory, both above and below.

After the shelves were installed, filling in the nail holes and any anomalies with wood filler and caulk came next. This we sanded and cleaned, readying the shelves for paint.

 
As the walls in the living room are white, I chose Whisper White as the paint color for the shelves. We painted the interior of the Butch nook a light tan to give it a subtle contrast.

Shelving came next, with the non-fiction books shelved using the Dewey Decimal system and the fiction books in alphabetical order by author,

including my book...

What a fabulous birthday present! The only downside: what's shelved is only a portion of my collection.

We'll have to build more shelves....