We like to do things backwards

Since moving into our new house at the end of August last year, we've been slowly furnishing it so it looks the way we want it to. Last weekend, we broke down and went to Ikea to get one last thing I felt that the living room was missing: a bookshelf. We got a "great" deal (let's not kid ourselves: it's just some particle board and some screws) and I was so excited about it that Max was kind enough to tackle putting it together right away!

And then I had fun filling it with all of our little treasures:


On the top of the bookshelf is a clock that belonged to Max's grandfather (a gift from GM, in fact!). On the first two rows are my scrapbooks and journals, some hand drawn paintings of various European cities, a handmade pottery vase (a wedding gift from a college roommate), and some wedding pictures. On the bottom two rows are Max's various textbooks: religion, languages, and psychology. Oh, and can you spot the cat? She's probably wondering if that will be a safe place to hide from the dog...

Here's the view from the other side of the living room:

Now we just need to cover up all of this nice furniture so we can paint the walls!!