new shelves with a father's help

In honor of Father's Day I thought I'd show you guys a project that was the combination of many people's help and ideas, but most of the real work was done by two fathers: my father-in-law Casey, and the father of my son... my husband! When we bought our little condo 5 years ago this is what the front entry looked like (this photo was taken during our inspection so this is definitely before we made any changes):

When you first walked in, it was like you were looking into our whole home. It felt like living in an apartment... and no privacy! Anyone who walked up to our door could immediately see our entire living area, dining room, kitchen, and down the hallway to the bedrooms and such. Also we had that hideous pole - hard to see in the picture, but it was rough unfinished wood, and it wasn't even on straight! That strip around the bottom is metal that someone just slapped a coat of paint over. Well my mother in law Kathy had the idea to put up a wall there and I had really wanted to have some built in shelves somewhere, so my husband put the two together and enlisted the help of his dad! The building was all done by them, Casey and I made the doors together, and then I finished off with the paint and molding. 

here it is with the framework up

shelves in, priming and mudding mostly finished:

and here it is today:

As you can see we eventually got rid of the carpet, and those horrible wooden tiles in the entryway. We decided to have doors on the bottom because A: we have dogs and B: we knew we would have kids someday, so it is nice to not have open shelving on the bottom! I absolutely love how this came out... we have an entry way now! Also, the one thing I was concerned about is that it would close off an already small space... but surprisingly, it feels bigger! Maybe it's because each area is more clearly defined now. And when the creepy "magazine salesman" came to our front door and was trying to peek around the wall into our house (there had been a handful of robberies in our complex)... I was happy he couldn't see all of our electronics and things just on the other side!

So what do you think? I love seeing these shelves... and more than that, I love having a place (rather, one more place) for my books! I have soooo many books. Unfortunately the other side of this wall is still blank... I have yet to figure out just what I want to hang there. Of course when I do decide, you are the first people I'll tell!

As far as decorating goes, these shelves need work... they don't look too bad I guess, but I have a couple ideas in store for this spot! They may not look all fancy and dreamy they way so many women seem to effortlessly do, but at least they speak for who we are. So have another look, here are just a few of the things that describe us (if it's hard to read, just click on the picture to enlarge it):

So thank you hubby, (and thanks father in law as well!) - you are one great father! I couldn't ask for better.

 Watching movies (or "moomoos" as he calls them), cuddling with daddy, 

munching on green beans. What more could a little guys want?

Linking to: Show & Share Day at Just a Girl