Building a Library - Progress

As you might know, because I mention it like every other minute, I'm building my own library in my new apartment. Last weekend, I made a lot of progress and I wanted to show you!

When I started looking for my own place, I knew I had one major requirement: the place had to have two bedrooms, big enough to fit shelves in so I could make it my bookish paradise. When I came across this apartment I knew right away that this room *had* to be the library, and so it was decided.

I don't have many proper photo's from before, because I can't possibly fit the entire room in one picture, but here's an idea of what it looked like -- and how I pimped it.



Not too bad, but not exactly inspiring. The view is lovely; I look out over a lot of green and water so that's wonderful. The door to the rest of the house is actually fully open, the opening is to the left.

So the first thing I wanted to do with the room itself was to give it some colour. The white made it very meh and I really wanted a nice, sort of bright color to pop from behind the bookshelves, which would be going on these walls. I picked a turquois colour, a blue-ish green (though my dad is convinced it's green and he doesn't see the blue at all) and we started painting. It took me all day to paint these two walls, painting the edges of the walls with a pencil brush to make them as near as perfect as I could get them since I couldn't use tape.

BAM! Colour! The colour is more blue-toned than this picture, this is a little too green but perfectly shows the contrast between the wall, the white skirting (I have no idea if this is the right word lol) and the dark floor. The picture was taken right after painting which is why the paint is a bit splotchy. I finished the bottom of the walls later, so it looks a bit wonky here haha.

When I was done, I was supposed to wait with the assembling of the shelves. I was going to assemble them next weekend, together with my dad, because the shelves were so heavy. But I couldn't wait.

So I built one of the small shelves, which was surprisingly easy. It's a bit taller than I would have liked, but hey, more room for books! #alwayslookonthebrightside

And that's when things got out of hand.

I built a big shelf. Mind you, the thing is almost 2 metres high and 1,20 metres wide so it was a bit of a chore to get it up, but I did it! Huzzah! So then I sat down and had a bit of a break because seriously I was feeling like I just ran 10 miles (and I can only do 1,5 without passing out, so there). Then I started thinking. Should I..?

Well DUH, of course I would. I was lucky that I only wanted one of those doubleshelved bookcases on the short wall, because I had measured and I should have had at least half a metre of spare room.. Yeah, not so much. Maybe 20 cm? I have no idea, but I'm glad it fit lol. Note to self: let someone check your measuring xD

And I just kept going. I was like a book case building junkie or something, because I built the third one. By the time I was done with this one I was panting and seriously needed to sit down and have a nutella sandwich, so I did and I admired my handywork.

And why would I stop there when I only had one book case left to build? Sure it was dinner time and sure I was exhausted but I WOULD FINISH THIS *Hulk smash* (I Hulk smashed the cardboard boxes, not to worry, the shelves are safe)

Picture from a weird angle because quite frankly there were too many shelves to fit in the picture. I might have underestimated the amount of shelves I have now.. Not that I'm complaining, of course. IT'S A WALL OF SHELVES ZOMGWTFBBQ.

Holy shit. It took me the entire Sunday, both morning and afternoon and even part of the evening to paint and assemble, but MAN am I proud of myself for doing this.

Bonus pic: view from the door when you walk in. The small shelf will eventually go on the right wall, but since I'm considering to paint it the same colour as the rest of the walls, I think the small shelf won't be placed there for a little while. And yes, I'll be replacing that poor excuse for a lamp as soon as I buy a decent one lol.

Anyhoo, I'm not done yet, maybe halfway there, but HEY it looks like a library! And I did it all by myself! Well, okay, my dad helped a bit with the painting but the rest I did all by myself :D!

I cannot wait to move my books into this room and hang out in my comfy chair and just relax in my bookish heaven. Because quite frankly, that's what it is. And I love it.

<3