Big Library Project: The Before looks better than the after

We are at the stage in our project where the before looks better than the after but we're pushing through! ;)

I am so excited about this project, it's one of those "Dream Home" projects I talk about. I had a list of things I would want in my dream home and this project is on the list (like our bedroom fireplace).

We are building a super tall bookcase with a rolling ladder!!!! AAaaaahhhh!!!!! I am so excited.

We have fully run out of room for all of our books, my first instinct was to sort through and donate the ones I've already read but 90% of our books are non-fiction and I bought them because they were great reference books. So I really wanted to keep 90% of them. We donated 10% of them, mostly fiction or outdated non-fiction (books that still had countries like Czechoslovakia and referred to Bush as the current president, I'm talking the first president Bush).  Then we started planning.
We knew we had to go vertical, but how to do it safely???
Bookcases fixed to the wall wouldn't be rated to support the weight of so many books.
Long selves would be good but not the look I was going for.
Then like a big old Oprah Ah-Ha moment I thought, kitchen cabinets hold lots of weight and they don't fall off the wall!!! The skies opened up and the sun shined down on us and I saw an IKEA sign! haha
Ikea's wall cabinets are rated to hold 297 lbs of weight, that's over 400 dishes. SOLD.
We bought three 36" by 39" wall cabinets from Ikea, without door fronts. $204 later and we were set. 1. First Lee assembled the three cabinets.
2. Next Lee Hung the mounting rail. Just find some studs and screw them in with BIG HUGE SCREWS!

3. Lift big cabinet frame up an even bigger ladder while trying not to die. 

4. Attach cabinet to rail (Lee reports that it was super easy).
5. Repeat 2 more times . . . Done! After the cabinets were assembled it took just under an hour! As you can see the sun was going down and ruining my perfect picture lighting!!

So there we are, cabinets are up. Next step is to add, crown molding and a top, to the top of the cabinets. After that we'll be adding a new distressed wood top to the bottom bookcases. It's looking a little 'light' down there so a big wood top should bring the weight and focus back down. And last will be to weld up a rail and a ladder so we can reach all of our books!

It will still be a month or two before we are done but I am so excited already! It's the coolest thing to see when you walk through the front door!!!