Before and Oh-So-After!

Thank goodness I did something about this crazy office.  In the last post I told you that I painted one of our small bookshelves, but didn't give you the final product yet.  Well, I am happy to announce that our office went from this:

to this!: 

A little better, right?  The other day, Josh was at band practice (he is the percussion instructor for a local high school marching band) and while he was away I totally re-did the office in two hours and then surprised him when he came home.  He was shocked that I did it all on my own (especially moving the heavy stuff).  I moved the desk from the left wall to the wall with the window so I could look outside while I worked.  It has, of course, proven a distraction.  Especially when the neighbors are playing football.  I added a small table we already had with a lamp we already had in the corner.  I kept the filing cabinet out, even though I hate it.  This "oh-so-after" room is really just an "in-progress-but-way-better-than-it-was" room.  And where the desk used to be:

The new bookshelf!  Well, it's actually an old bookshelf, but it's freshly painted, so it's kind of new.  

Even though we need storage for all of our books, I really didn't want to crowd our clean bookshelf and once again make this room feel tight and over-stuffed.  So I opted for a few books and other random stuff.  Josh doesn't understand why we would have a book shelf if we aren't going to have books on it, but I totally get it. And in the future, I will probably either paint the other bookshelf and add it in here, or get something bigger or put shelves on the walls for storage for office-type-stuff, books, and school work stuff.  But here are some close ups of my happy, neat, and clean bookshelf:

Some things to note: 

1. On the top shelf, there is a stack of books.  That stack of books is so random that it includes: "The Purpose Driven Life", a Lewis Black book called "Me of Little Faith" (I know, ironic), a book titled "Stumbling on Happiness" (also ironic), "Catch-22" and "Day Trips in Delmarva".  I swear that was an accident.
2. The big round vase on the top is awesome.  It is by far my best vase.  And I have a lot.
3. The art hung above the shelf is only there because it is the 2-D version of the teal vase in the shelf.  I made that art with a bunch of paint chips.  I cut them up into same size squares and glued them on a thick piece of paper and then framed it.  My inspiration came from this DIY art from paint chips.  It didn't come out perfect (you can see the imperfections in the picture) but I don't think it's too horrid.  Josh, however, was not happy that it was on our wall.  He called it "kindergarten art".  He is lucky I love him.

Speaking of paint chips, I went to (almost) all of the local paint stores and picked up some paint chips for our living room.  And by some I mean a lot:

And we couldn't really find one that we like!  AHHH!  So we picked up more:

And still haven't found one.  Shucks.  So, the in-laws are here today visiting for the weekend.  Josh and his dad are going to a sports bar to watch the Mountaineers game shortly since we won't get it on cable today.  I think that while they are gone, Josh's mom and I will go to the only paint stores left on the Eastern Shore (Home Depot and Sherwin Williams) and pick up the rest of the teal-ish paint chips left in the world and hopefully find one we like.  

Then the plan is to go out for crabs for dinner before it's winter and we can't get them anymore.  We go to a local crab house right on the Chesapeake Bay.  They say that Maryland crabs are best in the fall, so we will see!  

Have an awesome weekend!