Make it work!

 

I�m totally channeling Tim Gunn on that one! :) I told you awhile ago how I was obsessing over wanting to move furniture around in our house. I also mentioned how that just doesn�t happen often in our house because of the open layout. Poor me, I know.

But one day a couple weeks ago I was standing in our loft/playroom and found myself staring at a corner that drove me nuts:

It�s that area over by the window � the bookshelf has always bothered me there. It just felt too cramped � especially when every. single. book. is taken off the shelves. I either wanted another shelf for the other side of the window to balance it out or wanted to move it out of that spot completely. I couldn�t get a second bookcase because it�s actually a hutch that goes on top of a desk � and I got it on my one and only glorious trip to the local Ballard Designs outlet years ago. We went with an empty mini van and couldn�t see out the back window on the way home.  ;)

Enter the moving of furniture. I slid the sucker over by our stair way and it turned out to be an absolute perfect fit!:

I was worried it might get in the way, but we don�t even notice it. The other thing I have wanted to do forever? Add some kind of base to the hutch to make it look like actual furniture. I mean, it looked like it belonged on a desk, not on the floor:

So I thought up a solution I think turned out pretty well. I measured the size of the top of the hutch, then went and had a piece of wood cut to the same measurement. I also grabbed six �bun� feet to raise it off the floor a bit:

 

I measured the same distance in all around and drilled starter holes for the feet:

 

The bun feet didn�t really twist in super tight, but they work fine. I also got a piece of trim molding to dress up the base of my new �bookcase� and cut it with my miter box to fit around the front and the two sides:

    

A coat of my trusty Black Suede paint from Home Depot and it was done. I absolutely love how it turned out!:

  

It�s just that little something it needed! I removed the meeeellion stuffed animals and now it�s such a lovely, warm spot when we go up and down the stairs:

See that little dinosaur terrarium on the top shelf? Adorable. Cost me a buck. I got that idea from Lindsay. (Can�t find the link, sorry!) My son loves it!

I didn�t attach the base -- just set the bookshelf on top! The accessories can be seen as you come up the stairs, so because I�m just a little bit crazy, they had to be items that look good from both directions � which is harder than you�d think, especially when you�re shopping your house!:

I ended up securing it to the wall (into a stud) because it�s way less sturdy compared to before, which is odd now that it has a wider base:

 

The corner where the shelves were before is SO empty now, which I�m OK with for now --- I�m enjoying all the space.

Before:

  After�ahhhh:

But now I have an idea for something fantastic by each window! Yippee! I love moving stuff around!

I�m working on a mini redo in our family room I hope to show you soon. It started with a rug and it�s spilling into the rest of the room.  :)