But first, let me take a shelfie

When we bought our townhome we (I) knew we'd need to do something on either side of the fireplace. I looked at doing built-in. I found the hundreds of Ikea Billy shelf built in 'hacks' and similar tutorials. And with my connections (dad and FIL) I knew we could build some pretty awesome looking beauties from scratch. But, with all the things we needed to put money into we simply didn't have the resources to put into this. Connections but no resources. Tough life.
Plus, we didn't/don't know how long we'll be here. Not that you should refrain from projects just cause someday you'll move. That's silly. I'm fairly certain I'll be finishing up one last project after our movie truck is gone and all that's left is to clean the toilets.
So, we wanted something that could potentially come with us and be repurposed in a new space. And I found this on Pinterest (duh):



From To Be Shelved. Lovely. It was simple, unique, modular and could be easily moved. Oh, and when we got to it, it was pretty inexpensive. Here's what we used - all from our little town Menards.

Materials: 
Shelving Track
Brackets
Pre-finished boards
Drywall anchors

Tools:
Table saw
Electric Drill
Level
Measuring tape

We priced our some nice lumber and the pre-finished boards blew them out of the water. Like 1/3 as much. Plus we didn't have to stain them. A definite plus since we were trying to finish this project in three day when my dad was here...oh, and it was -15 during those three days (thanks for visiting, dad!).

And we did wall anchors because the placing of the studs in our townhouse is ca-razy.



Day one. Oye.



For the first few months all we managed was to hand the TV. You can tell what's important around here.
All I can remember from those days is bundling up my new baby and huddling for warmth. A new furnace might be on our list for this fall (what an essential, unglamorous use of remodel funds).
We took off the mantle to have it hang at the right height so we didn't have to crane our necks. Did we go a little big on the TV? It was a Thanksgiving deal that Husband Could. Not. Pass. Up. Aren't all the cords laying around lovely?!



Painting while we watched the Miami Heat play. This is how work gets done around here. I really like that we did just these two walls - a little fadish, but easy to change when the fad passes. Or when we sell.



Putting up some random stuff.



How it sits today. Well, as of this post. Since I've put pictures in my picture frames!!

Overall I really like them. After we finished I showed some pictured to my friend, Megan from Renter Decorating, and she mentioned similarities to the shelves from Chris Loves Julia (color...I wish we'd gone a more neutral tone, like this, oh well. It's a little space I can repaint, right?!):



And House Tweaking:


I had only see a few of their posts, but felt so validated in my design choices. And I now I'm a daily obsessed stalker avid follower of both.