Life is moving sooo fast these days. We have actually carved out some time to do some projects, which is exciting, but now I need to get them on the blog here. Today, I’m sharing a little update we did to the basement and an OOPS moment I had recently that cost us some cash.
You may remember I shared our reading corner in the basement family room back in October before Emma was born. I loved how that space turned out and didn’t want to change it…but I was already out of room for books…and I had a bunch more on the way to me. Oops. So, I had to upgrade a bit and now it’s even more bright and cheerful!
Before we changed it out, we asked for feedback from friends and brainstormed some ideas for awhile to see if we should just add a second bookcase somewhere else, or maybe even stack them to make a bigger one…but in the end, for the space we had in that corner, it became clear I needed to just consider buying the smaller one a mistake and update the larger one.
So, I ordered the 16-cube organizer instead of the 8-cube one like we had before, and it doubled the space we had. Here’s the affiliate link for that one: Better Homes and Gardens 16-Cube Organizer
I guess we more than doubled the space if you consider the visible space and not just the bins on the bottom. Those store my prizes and other business supplies. And I actually DIDN’T have enough books to fill the space (I used some fillers like boxes and bins and stuffed animals that go with the books to fill it out. So even though it looks full, I do have some room to grow still.
Again, we got the weathered finish. On the website, it looks a bit more yellow, but it matches the whitewashed counters we have on the other side of the room really well even though the shelves aren’t solid wood. As I said before in the post about the 8-Cube shelves, this is certainly not high-quality because it’s not solid wood. But… it is a step up from the cheaper bookshelves you can get at a slightly lower price point. In my opinion, the update the Better Homes and Gardens brand shelves is WORTH IT.
The finish is much less noticeably fake-looking than some I’ve seen. And it’s really pretty sturdy.
This means we still have the 8 cube. Wyatt tried to convince me to keep it and use it as a console table, or another bookcase on another wall, but I’d rather sell it. I don’t have a place for it in mind right now. But, I also haven’t sold it yet, so who knows what will happen. I mean, the book collection may outgrow the ones we have at some point, too, right?
Here’s what that space looked like before, as a comparison.
And what it looks like now:
I need to get something for on top of it. Maybe some artwork…Or some sort of decor that can’t be broken if Will throws a ball at it and knocks it off. He doesn’t mean to, but he gets a little wild down there sometimes.
And that’s the point. We want this space to be family friendly, for him to play and us to relax. Also, this is a friendly reminder to ANCHOR your shelves to the wall, friends! Even though Will isn’t a climber, it isn’t worth the risk. I like knowing this can’t ever fall on him if he decides he just NEEDS a book from the top shelf that he can’t reach from the floor.
And now…I am setting out to research tents or teepees to add to this corner. Do you have a favorite one? Have you DIYed anything? I love the idea of a little spot for snuggling but I don’t have room for anything too big. Ideas?
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