The Final Product

Paul finished our cabinet yesterday afternoon...

We let it set to make sure all the "tacky" feel was off the shelves and doors and then today I brought all the books back in. This was my first attempt but I didn't like the paperbacks laying down on the top shelf.

So, this is what we've got for now. I wish it was about 15 - 20 books less so we could add a decorative piece or two. Russ has a flag raising statue that would look great as a book end... but we've FILLED this space to the max. And he's still got a bookshelf full in his office. I do give him credit though... this winter he was able to part with about 30 books - that's HUGE for him! I did find about 6 books on here that I own - a Children's bible, a Dr Seuss book I got for the boys, and my college yearbooks. A pack rat I am not. :) Honestly, I also have a shelf of books in my closet that I thought I might read some day - discount finds at library sales, but none of them have interested me enough to read them yet... so they might be getting recycled out soon. (I usually just pass my books on to friends or family as I never reread anything)

The bottom of the cabinet is going to be used for some board games and puzzles that we have overflow of. I just put some puzzles in there for now. These were on the kitchen counter as Ryan has been pretty into doing them as of late.

I'll probably find something around the house to put on top but haven't decided what just yet.

Quite an improvement, huh? I really like it. We ALWAYS trust Paul's workmanship!! I guess if my home is going to be overflowing with something, I'm glad that it's books. Both Russ and I are avid readers and have read to the boys since they were very little. All of the boys love to listen to books, have large collections of their own and Reid has quite the reading skills himself.