Some shelves ...

Tim had a three day weekend and we made some more progress on my long list of projects I'm determined to complete before baby girl arrives. Saturday morning we took a trip out to Ikea to pick up a comforter for Caleb's room that my mom is making a cover for and to check out their options for organizing.

While we were there we were able to find some great options for the boys to create a reading nook in each of their beds...

I've had my eye on these Pottery Barn collector shelves for a while now. Aren't they so cute? Jared, especially, was needing some place to keep books on the top bunk. These shelves are $39-$62/EACH and I just couldn't see spending $90-$130 on them when there are so many other things on the list! I've been scouring the internet for knockoffs and ideas and coming up pretty empty. The best option seemed to be from Ikea - they had and unfinished spice rack on their website for $4 that would have worked - had it actually been available either online or in the stores (odd).

But ... we did come across a picture ledge at Ikea for $10 that would totally work. Plus - some cute stars to mount on the wall for reading lights.

I picked out a rustic red spray-paint to coordinate and got to work. I wouldn't say that the paint job was awesome - but adequate...

By Monday night, the shelves were dry and ready to hang. Tim and the boys got to work (I love this picture of all the "help" the boys are offering. While Tim was measuring the wall, the boys measured the entire room and a host of other things!)

They loved cuddling with Daddy with the the glow from their blue star lamps. AND - filling up their shelves with books to read in bed.

Jared & Will were pretty excited to hop into bed to read books tonight!

Success!

For less than one shelf would have cost at Pottery Barn, we were able to get both boys book ledges AND lights. They are really excited! We also picked up a student's desk and worked on getting their closet in order.

I'll be honest, I was hoping to also finish painting Caleb's room and get and a bunch more organized, but it was still a pretty fruitful weekend. We sold a bunch of stuff on Craigslist that was just taking up space. It didn't help that Caleb came down with a cough and was a little more needy than usual. But ... at some point (let's face it) I should really stop being surprised at how hard it is to get things done with small kids. :-)