Assembling Our Bookcase/Mantle

Our new antique is a beautiful piece of old school craftsmanship. It is so unique that I have been having a hard time coming up with a name for it. It is obviously a bookcase, but it is so much more. As a blogger without a fireplace, I have been feeling rather inadequate. Thank goodness, I finally have a mantle-like piece to decorate for the holidays! However, as you know last week it was in pieces spread over the living room floor.

We had planned to have people over on Saturday and Sunday evenings, and therefore it needed to be assembled as soon as possible. On Tuesday, Douglas finished painting the trim that would be behind the piece.

Douglas and I were at work until late on Wednesday night. When we arrived home at about 7:30 p.m. neither of us felt like trying to get it done. I had a meeting on Thursday night, but Douglas assured me that he could do it by himself.

When I walked through the door at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday night, my heart fell. The bookcase was partially assembled, but Douglas was sitting on the couch with a sickening look on his face. I was certain that my new antique was irreparably damaged.

He had been reassembling the bookcase when the incident occurred. It was going back together but was not very stable. Douglas was at the back screwing something in, when he suddenly heard a loud bang and the entire bookshelf came down on top of him. He dropped the screwdriver and scrambled to keep the piece from hitting the ground and shattering, all while wondering what had just happened. He was able to stabilize the bookshelf when he heard a buzzing coming from over his head. Looking up he saw Crème peering down at him from the top. Crème denies everything.

Crème was lucky to survive the night. When I got home shortly after she was locked in the bedroom and Douglas was threatening to kill her. I let her out and we quickly found out what had happened when she tried to reenact the scene for me. She climbed onto the top of the chaise and started preparing for another launch to the top of the bookcase. Luckily, I was there that time to thwart her attempt. Once again, she denies everything. Look how innocent she appears. Whom do you believe?

Once I was home I was able to quickly help Douglas finish up the assembly. It went without a hitch.

I wonder where the piece comes from. There is newsprint on the back of the mirror that references Japan. From the cartoon quality of the illustrations and the print in English leads me to believe that it is not from Asia, but perhaps it was made on the West Coast?

Douglas used a drill set at low resistance to put the screws in but tightened them with a hand held screwdriver because he did not want to split the wood. A few of the pieces are brittle.

Here is the bookcase/mantle the next morning. I will tell about the decorating and show the finished room.

It was wonderful having a fully clean house again this weekend. It was a good weekend all around. On Friday, both my girls and boys’ swim teams won their meets. The boys went undefeated for the season and the girls won a meet that came down to the last relay and some strategy by the coaching staff. On Saturday, I had some ladies over while Douglas and Menderes had Battlestar Gallactica marathon viewing session in the basement. On Sunday morning we went to watch Menderes compete in the conference championship. His relay won and he came in second in the 100 breaststroke. His team won the competition for the first time ever. That night a friend came over to watch the most exciting Superbowl in many years.

This morning we have a snow day. I will let you know what we get done on Wednesday.

Happy Homemaking!