Transforming Our Living Room (Part 1.)

I think about boxes a lot. They’re containers with a flat base and sides, typically square or rectangular and having a lid. Pretty simple, right? But, can they be more? As a woodworker, a lot of what I do is making boxes of various sizes — they are the foundation of most builds.

I made a custom built-in bench with storage for our dining room last year. After, I did a lot of thinking about how boxes play a roll in our daily lives.

Fast forward to this year, and I’m tackling my biggest built-in yet for our living room. Katie has always dreamed of having a library in our home, so I’m making one with multiple purposes, lots of much-needed storage, and eventually, a ladder.

I’m building it in phases and it all started with a plan and lots of measurements.

Phase One, the Reading Nook, started while Katie was away on a work trip. This is the main spot for a cozy seat to read, books and audio players, knick knacks, and storage for blankets and bedding for guests.

There was nothing in this corner prior to this build, so that meant I added the door molding, the reading bench with undermount drawers, more drawers, and lots of bookshelves.

One of the fun aspects of this build is that the door moulding was found in our basement crawl space and a lot of the wood was repurposed from other pieces we no longer needed or scrap wood from previous projects.

Phase One took me a little over a week to complete.

We always intended to color drench our living room in Sherwin Williams Green Labyrinth, so naturally we painted the built-ins and door molding with it. This gives us the moody space we always envisioned. For a bit of contrast and added warmth, we’re using black walnut as the drawer fronts. Lastly, we used a floral wall paper for the back of the book nook for a fun pop of color and joy, which is what we’re all about.

Stay tuned for Part 2. In the meantime, Be Wild & Stay Rad!!!