Before I get started, a couple quick notes. A few of you asked for a how-to on our bookshelf lights – you got it, hopefully Friday. You guys know I can’t say no to your squishy little faces.

Also, THANK YOU for your support last week on the Top DIY Projects of 2011 contest! We didn’t win, but I’m gonna go all cheeseball for a sec and tell you I feel like we did, because it was crazy awesome just to be in the company of those other incredible projects, and I was *BLOWN AWAY* by YOU for your support, facebook notes, tweets, blog posts (Michelle, Katie and Jen, thank you!), smoke signals and telegrams in efforts to round up votes. You all rock, officially. *MUAH.* (And huge congratulations to BJ on winning! Andy and I both thought her playhouse was VERY deserving.)

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When I first told you about our plan for the office bookshelf wall -(are you SO SICK of hearing about this already? Sorry!)- I mentioned that I had a HUGE crush on these bookshelves with their fancy molding at the top and bottom:

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A closer look:
Seriously, I want to peel off those baseboards, pinch their cheeks and cuddle the ever-loving life out of them. It’s not even appropriate.

Here again is that shot of the bookshelves I showed you earlier in the week:

You can see in that picture where we’d removed the crown molding along the back wall to install the shelves, and just made it dead-end into the shelves.

That room actually has three pieces of crown, just like our dining room. You can kind of see the three pieces in this photo of our dining room here. You can also see how we installed the clover mold at an angle in the corners:

So we had to remove the angled clover mold, crown AND basecap, then reinstall them once we’d built and installed the shelving unit. Look, new crown molding and basecap!! (Thanks to Andy and my dad, who we sometimes trick into doing these projects with us, since he used to be a professional trim installer and I am a very persistent beggar.)

Come to mama!
Still needed to add in the clover mold at the top:

And add the baseboard around the bottom:
And um, sweep the floor.
Welcome, new clover mold!

OOOOH. AHHHH.

And now with baseboards for your viewing pleasure (around the bottom):

There are lots of visible cracks and holes still – just look the other way until we can caulk it, k?

Andy was able to salvage a lot of the trim that was on that wall before we started this project, so cost for this little upgrade was minimal. It still needs all that caulk and spackle, plus the rest of the cabinet doors and door hardware – but it’s starting to look much more finished now, don’t you think?

So tell me the truth, am I alone in my healthy affection for deep infatuation with chunky trim? Do you prefer a more streamlined look or is the chunk-o-molding winning you over too?