Amazing Bookcase makeover

Yikes! This is even embarrassing to post!

Here's our old family room built-in bookcase when we moved in last September. At first, we were going to rip it out entirely, but then we decided it was a great place for storage and we could probably transform it easily.

5 coats of paint and many days of frustration later, here's our painted cabinet.

The next huge task was filling the bookcase. It didn't seem like something too difficult, but once I started adding things, I realized how HUGE it was and how long it was going to take to fill it.

This is definitely a work in progress as I collect more accessories and books to add to it. I change up the little collections every few weeks when they start to bother me!


The Willow Tree angel collection was also a challenge. I was really into these in college and right after, but it got to the point where I had way too many and I didn't know what to do with them anymore. I put them in a box for a year and then pulled them back out for the bookcase. My randomly placing angels throughout the bookcase, it's not as overwhelming as the whole collection together.

And no, I'm not PG again. That's our angel from earlier this summer with the Willow Tree figurine my mom gave me the day of the surgery.


I chose to take the paper covers off all my books and only use hardcover books. I think it looks cleaner, but it also means it's going to take much longer to fill. I usually only buy paperback because I like to fold the books when I'm reading.


I also tried to keep with the color scheme of the room so all the photo frames match the other accessories in the room.


Some of the little accessories and bookends are from my spray paint extravaganza which you can read about here.

Big transformation, huh? We love it!

See the fun parties I'm linking up to here

Pioneer Woman book signing!

Those of you who are into the blogging world may have heard of Pioneer Woman (AKA Ree Drummond). She's a very talented blogger, photographer, cook, and writer going on a tour of the country to promote her cookbook. She had a book signing at the Barnes & Noble near me, so I had to go check it out.

It was madness! This is only about half the people that were there. There was a huge crowd behind me and on the second floor that wrapped around.

I got there early at 6:00 pm so I would have a good spot for the book presentation. The seats were already all taken. She came out at 7:30 for a quick Q&A session and then began signing books. Umm...apparently, we were supposed to pick up numbers for the book signing, but I didn't know this because I came in the back door of the store. So I got #191 even though I was there pretty early.

So we got in line and waited. And waited...


The line hardly moved.


I really regretted wearing heels after a full day at work and an hour at the gym.


We waited even more.

4 hours later, my back was killing me and my feet were screaming. I couldn't handle it anymore and had to get home so I could sleep for a few hours before work the next day. I was really sad I didn't get to meet her, but I was just too tired.

However, I heard she did stay to meet every last person so I applaud her for that. There are a lot of authors and celebrities that leave a signing while there's still a line and end up with a lot of disappointed fans. Although I didn't get my book signed, it was a fun experience and I wish Ree the best on the rest of her tour and congratulations on her success!