Office prettification! Step... I don't remember...

It's kind of sad that I don't even remember which step of this process I'm on. As my husband would say "it's the next one."

This weekend we started the shelving project for our office. It was a little more expensive than we thought, mostly because we ended up buying a few extra items at Home Depot instead of just what we needed for the project. I also bought more stain/wax than we really needed because knowing me, I'm going to want more of these shelves. 

As I posted in my last entry, Garry pulled up and threw out all the carpet in the sunroom. Even though it helped keep the room a LOT warmer, this is probably a good idea since we can use that room as a "winter work room" since we have a small electric fireplace out there to help us stay warm while we're working out there. 

Because the carpet came up - just about everything had to come back into the office. 

Side note: I'm thinking of hanging our three violins on the other side of the filing cabinet. It would be really nice to get them off the floor. I also pulled the blinds down yesterday because... well... I hate plastic blinds with every fiber of my soul.

Yeah, kind of a mess... and very bare... which makes me sad. :(

But - this wall will change everything!

It's so bare, and so blank that something gorgeous just BEGS to be there - that something is my wall-o-shelves.

We started by hanging the track shelving, which isn't that terribly difficult. Just measure and screw the tracks to the wall. But, make sure you measure very carefully before you start drilling - otherwise you end up with a million holes you have to putty. 

Luckily we didn't have a problem with that. :)

These shelves will be 6 feet long (I wanted something really substantial for this room) and the wood we bought was just pine 2x12. The boards were 12ft long so we had the folks at Home Depot cut them in half so we could fit them in my car (and they barely fit). I decided I only wanted three shelves afterall, so we have an extra board that I can use somewhere else in the house (probably the bathroom).  

Once the tracks were up I sanded the cut edges of the wood. My dad would be shaking his head at me now, but no, I didn't sand the whole thing. I want the wood to look a little "beat to hell" as he would put it. That's kind of the point. 

See, our sunroom makes a great work room - if only I had some saw horses... 

I decided to go with Minwax Special Walnut for color. I knew I wanted a "weathered-looking" walnut color, and let's be honest here, Minwax was the cheapest stain at Home Depot for that size. I've also used Mixwax before with good results. I also bought just a cheap $1 brush since I didn't want to use my good paint brushes and I just needed "something" to apply the paint with. 

This is after the first coat. All I did was brush the stain on with the grain and wipe with a cotton rag. Really simple. I'm going to do a second coat tonight. 

This is really a lovely color. I'm hoping the extra coat will take some of the red out of the wood that is in some spots, but if not, that's okay too. 

This process will probably take me all week to do since I don't get home from work until about 6 pm every night and I told Garry that I really wanted to do this part myself. I think two coats of stain on each board will be good, then a good coat of wax buffed on (I've never used wax before so this will be interesting) and hopefully by the weekend I'll be able to assemble everything on the shelves and start the organization process. (Meaning, I'll be on the hunt for containers for all my odds and ends). 

Hmm... maybe I can cut and stain that other board too, pick up some metal brackets, and hang those in the bathroom this weekend too... 

Maybe I should be saying "Stain all the things!" instead. :)

Here's the breakdown so far:

• Paint file cabinet: $12
• Paint my desk: $12
• Paint computer desk: $12
• Install cork/white erase board: $15
• Create/find items to use to corral small desk objects: free  
• Make barnwood shelving on metal tracks (above my desk): $150 (for materials) 
• Buy/build a bookcase: $50
• Make/find artwork: $50 (allowance for new frames/printing costs) 
• Make curtain panel: free 
• Add other furnishings (office chairs, rug, lamps, change out light fixture) 

All said: $300 (before the furnishings) 

So let's say $500 total (after furnishings). Okay, so my estimate was a little off - not by much though, and that depends on what we end up doing for the rest of the room. It's coming together though - and that's the important thing.