Wanna see the re-organization project that derailed my movie plans on Saturday night?

Here’s some background: I went to Ikea last Wednesday to pick up a bookcase. The project idea was stow my cookbooks in the nook behind my swinging door. I found a small bookcase that fit the space pretty well. The module piece was in the budget ($40), but didn’t come with a bottom level. If I wanted the bottom piece, it would cost me another 40. Really? Yeah, thanks IKEA. Very EFFIKTIV of you. I skipped out with just the main piece.

The resulting problem, is that I had to use the existing surface of my built-in for the books. The paint was peeling and dirty and awful. Peeling paint makes me want to run away.

So I used the paint remover (Jasco was best), and took off a bunch of paint. Then I got to some really weird red-stained wood stuff. Blood red. After poking around, (spending Way too much time trying to make the red surface nice enough to paint), I realized it was a layer of linoleum, and I could actually remove it! We uncovered and unscrewed the metal nose-piece, and it came up easily.

Sigh. What have these People been doing to my house through the years! I swear. I took out metal flashing, more patches of linoleum, contact paper, nails, … Eventually we got to the bottom level – wood.

Here is my lovely “After” photo. It was all worth it. I like my house a little more than I did before!

So what weekend project shall I tackle next? I’m all warmed up. :)