DIY Bookshelf/Entertainment Center Planning

Don't you just love the look of a nice crisp white built in?  I do! "waves hands wildly in air".

  http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/55/09/bb/5509bbaa4c46820da9643f7b080b25fb.jpg

http://www.homivo.com/built-in-entertainment-center/andrew-stahr-specialty-woodworking/

*Swoons*
I have been perusing Pinterest, and Houzz for years now,, and I have come across so many beautiful pictures of built-ins.  I have convinced myself that I must have one in my home.  At first, it was to be in our living room.  I have since decided that I like changing out the décor of the room too much to commit to something so permanent.  The dream has now been relocated to the entertainment room.
 
Baby R and I used to spend hours in that room.  It was close to the changing table, has carpet flooring, a TV, a nice comfy couch and rocker.  What more can a new Mom ask for?  Since he has become more mobile, we have moved to the lower level, into the living room.  It has hardwood flooring, and is easy for him to run around on, and ride/push his toys on.  He loves it down there.  You might ask why I want to commit to such a project for a room we hardly use.  Well the answer  is simple.  Because I am obsessed with the idea, and I must do it somewhere.  Okay, that's only part of the truth.  We have so many toys in this house, we might as well open up a toy resale shop.  Of course if we did that, we would defeat the purpose of keeping the toys.  We are what you call "hoarder", when it comes to Baby R's belonging.  It may be a first time parent thing, but we still have teething toys and rattles laying around, that we can't commit to throwing away.  Craziness I tell you!  That's why I'm looking for a place to hide as much stuff as I can.  We added four bookshelves from the Expedit Ikea line to the room, once Baby R started to crawl.  Of course those served their purpose, and still do, but I am looking for something a bit more tidy.   Since we don't use the room as much, I feel like a lot of that stuff should be hidden from sight.  Hopefully we can remove a couple of the shelving units and clear some room for Baby R to run around in.

I have been looking into pricing for someone else to come in and build this piece for me, but I have yet to find something within my budget.  Oh, have I mentioned that while I may splurge on certain items for the home, I can no way justify paying over $1,000, for some boxes with shelves on them.  I just can't do it.  Some call me cheap, but I like to call myself conservative.  This has lead to the conclusion to DIY this project.  I know I can do it.  I built a closet system for myself last summer, so I should be able to complete this.  Something about this project though seems to scare me.  I guess because it won't be behind doors, and I know how easy it is to go over budget when building, so I am doing my best to go slow and learn the skills needed before attempting to complete this, as opposed to as I build it, like I did last summer.
I have been using Ana-White.com to gather ideas on how to complete the different sections that I am going to build.  At this point, I think I am going to go off plan a bit and try to create my own look.  See that's what scares me!  Why do I want to go off plan?  Why would anyone in their right mind what to go off plan?  Ah!  Let's hope and pray that this all works out. 

I have been working on the dimensions and cut plans, for about a week now.  I keep changing my mind as to exactly how big I want this to be.  I'll share those here, as I get further into the project.  I don't own a saw, currently, ahem, ahem, husband, so I am going to see if the nice people at Lowe's will cut my pieces for me.  I have decided that since I am going to be painting this unit, I am going to use MDF instead of plywood.  This is going to save me some money.  Yay!  Baby R might go to college yet!  Just kidding.  I'm assured by other DIY'ers and builders, on blogs I have read,  that the integrity of the MDF will hold up if it is put together correctly.  Ah!  That' scares me too!  What if I don't put it together correctly?  What if this project is just a bit too much for me?  Okay, I'm starting to annoy myself with that.  I'm going to have to be confident if I want to do this.  I have to stop what-ifing and get on with it.  Once my plan is complete, I will share it in a future post.  I am hoping that I can start this project with in the next month.  Be on the lookout!

So what about you?  Do you have anything that you are wanting to , or planning to build?  I'd love to see/hear about it!  Please feel free to share it in the comments.  Thanks for following along!  Talk to y'all soon!


**The pictures above were found on Pinterest..  All credit goes to the original poster of the links.**