The book shelves

I have lost the cheap melamine bookshelves every time we move. They just don't survive the jostling. The joints rip apart. I have been on the hunt for book shelves, unable to unpack due to no storage and no book shelves. I really want to build one of those great storage closets in the basement that you see in other people's homes. This house was built for a minimalist which we are not.

I have been checking craigslist. There was a local listing but the shelves seemed extremely expensive. I contacted the listing and talked to the nice man on the other end of the phone. He was selling things off for his mother who has moved into a nursing home. She set the prices. I told him my thoughts and what I was willing to pay of shelves off of craigslist. He said he would run it by his mother and get back to me.

He called back and was willing to come down to my price for some of the shelves. They were in storage in our area and he would be down on Sunday to meet us. I took my girlfriend. You never go alone. I would have taken Trevor but my girlfriend had a big rig we could use for hauling. I could only do two shelves at a time. Taking two vehicles we could get more stuff. This worked well as once we got to the storage unit, we saw all sorts of wonderful things. I had a budget though and only so much cash on me.

I ended up buying some open silver pantry shelves along with the three book shelves I had come for. He also offered us half of a sectional for free just to get it gone and out of his way. The other half of the sectional had disappeared through the moving of mom from home to hospital to nursing homes. It probably hadn't fit in her room so the nursing home disposed of the part not needed. He felt he couldn't sell half a couch so he offered it to me. It was a two seater with one side reclining. It had heat and vibration. My boys wouldn't care that half the couch was missing. It would be perfect for their cave, and it was free for the taking.

We raced home and unloaded the shelves into the garage, giving the boys instructions to get the shelves down into the basement, we were coming back with a couch. The guy had somewhere to be so he wouldn't be sticking around the storage shed much longer.

The boys floated on air. If only the book shelves had been that light. I left to go pick up the couch, happy I wasn't watching the moving process of getting the shelves around the corner down the dingy stairs and around another corner at the bottom, dealing with the pitched roof of the stairwell as they went.

I had to laugh when we got back. The boys had put the shelves right in the one damp patch in the whole basement. Under that utility box with the drip. I have a bucket collecting the water but the floor was still a little damp from before the discovery. I had to tell the boys to move the shelves out of the damp patch and into the other room where we are setting up their space. They will love it when we are done.

I am having the couch face the lovely shelves. I think the skinny TV would even fit on one of the shelf units. It will look quite homey and I will get my boudoir area returned to me. I am off to tackle that space right now. I can unpack some more boxes. I would like to get my hands on some gorilla shelves still. But haven't been successful finding any in our area. I am checking out the auction house also. Maybe this weekend will be another auction day.

I may even call the guy with the storage shed back and see if I can buy some more shelves. He had a dozen to deal with. Find out when he will next be in town. Spread the purchases out over a couple of months.

Anyway, enough updating. Back to sorting tossing and unpacking. When will it end? You don't realize how much stuff there is until you move.