These bookcases have been “almost done” for over a month now, it seems. That last 10% of the way took more than 50% of the actual time and effort, but Jeff made a real push last weekend and every evening this week to get these puppies done and installed. Right now, there are 3 shelves left to be varnished this weekend, but the bookcases and 9 movable shelves are totally done.

Here’s the point we reached that started to feel like we were almost there, when in reality we were still so far. Two bookcases stained, but lots left to stain and nothing varnished:

Finally, all the bits and pieces had been stained, polyeurethaned, lightly sanded, and polyeurethaned again (with lots of drying time in between those steps). Tuesday night, we glued and nailed the backs onto all three bookcases:

Then we moved them into their future resting places in our bedroom, not yet filling them up with shelves and books in case we decided we didn’t like the placement. Plus, they still had to finish drying.

And there they sat for 48 hours. Tonight, Jeff attached the earthquake straps (aka, “things that will keep our legs from being crushed in case of another Northridge”), and I set about correcting what has been the bane of my existence these last 5 years: books stacked vertically in TWO ROWS so you couldn’t see them all at once. Blasphemy! But look – see how pretty it is now?

So, was it worth $500 in materials and tools, countless hours of Jeff-labor (and a few hours of Anna-labor, but honestly, mostly I just watched), and three months of having bits of wood scattered all over the apartment as we hauled parts inside and outside week after week? Well, they certainly put our remaining Ikea furniture to shame (take a look at the shabby dresser in that picture – doesn’t it just look sad?), and they actually look like Real Bookshelves instead of dorm room furniture. I’ve seen similar, slightly smaller shelves at CostPlus for about $200 a pop, but they’re never quite what we want – this way, we got to totally customize them, and they’re built much more solidly than anything we’d buy in pieces and screw together.

Or so Jeff tells me. I’ll let you know how they look after 10 years and a couple of moves.