Easter Festivities

Eli

Biker Lady

Tulip Festival

From a guy who got a C in Woodshop

This whole project started because I found a tutorial online for some cute, but inexpensive DIY bookcases. I showed Ben, he loved the idea so he got started.

Here's our bookcase before

Our living room before

The bookcases after!!

Ben went a little over board, and of course he's a perfectionist. It may have taken a lot longer than expected, but look at these babies, I can't complain!

We went in a little bit of a different direction than the tutorial, but used the same basic idea. We "dressed up" our cheap particle board bookcases and made them into something beautiful. We combined the look of about 5 different bookcases and Ben added some custom touches.

He custom built the base to match our cabinet we got off of craigslist.

After!
Most of our stuff is used, we've fixed up just about everything in here.
I don't know what it would be like to buy something and just set it out. The idea sounds nice, but this way we get exactly what we want, and don't spend too much in the process.

Desk: Craigslist - painted and a new knob
Chair: Goodwill - painted, distressed, and reupholstered
Bookcases: Craigslist - added beadboard, trim, base, beefed up shelves and painted
End table: Goodwill - cleaned up
Coffee table: Craigslist - cleaned up
Clock: Goodwill - cleaned up

Most of the stuff on the shelves is also Goodwill. Ben's been buying books there for years, and I've been collecting "stuff" the last few months to put on the bookcases. Yes, you heard that right, MONTHS, we've had these in the works since Thanksgiving.

We've got a few more projects in the works, so stay posted.

Yo-Yo Ma - Bach Cello Suite 1 III. Courante

Painting to Music

It looks like he painted to some death metal, but it was actually Bach!

(I posted the piece above)

Eli's favorite color is Red, so that explains the majority of the picture.

It was interesting to see how he really listened to the music, and moved his brush as if he were playing music. Long strokes during the smooth sections, and short dots for the staccato. He loved doing this activity and we'll definitely do it again soon.

Pillow Fun

Why is this their favorite pass time?

I swear, we own tons of toys!