It's raining books...helves

Yesterday morning I woke up at 5 am.  It was hot. Newbie had managed to hitchhike a ride to our bed at 4 am because it was so warm in his room. I love snuggling, but not when its roasting hot or when I'm trying to sleep and chubby little feet are kicking me in the shoulder. On one side was the clock silently telling me it was 5 am, and on the other was a little boy, face relaxed, head resting against his daddy's arm, and legs sprawled all over his mama's side of the bed.

So I threw in the towel.

I got up and had a granola bar and cleaned the house.

That. Happened.

When I had finished, it was 6:30 and both boys were still asleep upstairs, so I pulled out the laptop and started plotting.

Fast forward five hours later, and we were checking out of the Home Depot with a 10 foot vinyl gutter and some big plans.

Safe to say the Hubs will never sleep in again. I need supervision in the early morning hours.  My mind is too fresh at 6 am, and the creative juices are just sure to start flowing.

Which explains the rain gutter bookshelves that are now assembled in the playroom!

(A little catewhompus?  Perhaps.  But I like to think it gives them character...)

I'm not going to say the process wasn't painful.  "I really don't want to put anymore holes in this darn wall" may or may not have been said multiple times in the course of the installation, but the Hubs pressed on, and Newbie's got a couple of fun new bookshelves.

The mom in me loves these because they are cute and fun and they were less than 20 bucks.  The teacher in me loves them because they are accessible and make it easy for Newbie to see his books and explore them more frequently.  Win win, baby.

Newbie is such a bookworm and is always dumping his books out to sort through them and look at the illustrations.  I've got a hunch he's going to adore seeing his books on display at his height.  So, so stinking fun! 

And now for the how-to:

I've heard of this idea since I was in college- Lots of future teachers swapping ideas and all of us just itching to make a rain gutter classroom library someday. Then I found several pictures online this morning by googling "rain gutter bookshelves," and that's when I decided today was Home Depot day. 

We bought one 10 foot gutter (for $5.23!) and had one of the Home Depot dudes cut it up in to two three foot and one four foot pieces.

We also bought four end caps for our two shelves.  Those were the priciest pieces of the whole sha-bang, ringing it at 3 bucks each.

Then we bought a few tacos at Taco Bell.  (The Hubs works better on a full stomach.)

We used some extra screws the Hubs had from previous projects, but if you're not into the whole keep a stocked workbench thing, you'll need a few screws....in my opinion, any over an 1 1/4 inch should work.  But that's totally ballparking it.  Ballparking home decor projects works for me.  It may not work for you.  So don't get over zealous.  Ask your Home Depot dude first if you're feeling uneasy about using a ballpark estimate. I certainly won't hold it against you.

Next, I sat back on the couch and let my husband install them. 

But I took notes, just for you.

He sat back and listened to where I wanted the shelves placed.  Then he used a pencil pen (oops) to mark the top of the shelf on the wall, double checking with a small level to make sure they were straight.  But I'm telling you right now, if it had been me at the helm, I woulda just eye-balled it.  Because I am all about the ballpark home decor projects.

Then he used some molly bolts to put some seriously large holes in the plaster walls before finally abandoning those and embracing his wife's ballpark/wing it approach.  Then he used about four screws for each shelf and drilled them in right through the plastic of the gutter about an inch from the top edge and into the wall.  Truth be told, molly bolts are a great idea because they'll provide substantial support in heavy book situations, but they are not ideal when your house is 100 years old and sporting walls made of plaster.  Ahem.

Then he just popped the end caps on each end of the gutters and said, "WAH LAH!"

And I jumped up and down with a delightful combination of literary and interior decor enthusiasm and began filling the new shelves with all of Newbie's board books. 

And that, my friends, is how it is done!  Super quick, super easy! If you'd like to check out a more detailed tutorial, I found this one online. You know, in case you're not a fan of the ballpark it approach. =)

After Newbie checked out his new shelves (which he LOVES), it was time to break out the water table...



Opie and Newbie had a good time. Newbie reaches into the table, grabs a toy, tries to feed it to Opie, Opie runs into the house with it, Mama chases after him.  Rinse and repeat.  Over and over and over again.

Then we had to mow the yard.

After all the toys had been chewed on and the lawn had been mowed, we packed up a dinner-to-go and headed over to my high school's varsity rugby game.  The Hubs was stoked, and I was looking forward to a fun night outside with my boys. The weather was great and it was fun to see some rugby for the first time in a while.

Newbie spent the first half like this:

And he spent the entire second half like this:

He was cheering his little heart out- yelling at the boys on the pitch and clapping his hands.  When he wasn't cheering, he was waving at the fans around us.  It was so fun to watch him get into it and cheer on our team.  I think we might have a sports enthusiast on our hands. =)

Today Newbie and I are off to do some shopping for our trip to the cottage in a few weeks.  Somebody needs a swimming pool and a bigger pair of flip flops.  I love baby feet in flip-flops...

...and his little piggies are almost hanging over the edge of these. Which is funny because they were big for him when I bought them a couple months ago.  He's sprouting up fast!  We had his 12 month well child appointment this week (I called a little late and couldn't get him in around his b-day) and he checked out A-OK, measuring 50th percentile for height and weight.  A whopping 22 pounds!  I can't believe how much he's grown. 

So it's off to Old Navy for some flip-flops today.  I love a good trip to Old Navy.  And I really love two dollar flip-flops. =)

Happy Weekending, friends!