Our study is all set up!

We were able to make this Saturday count. Our study is all set up  :) 

The morning started with the breakfast of the champions -

On the plate you see a cornbread muffin, 2 wedges of pita bread, carrot-spinach scramble to be downed with some chilled coffee. Then a piece of tres leches cake to top it off.

Getting to work, item #1:
We finally brought the cabinet re-do to conclusion. The white rabbet behind the glass was the only pending thing and we were to cover it with strips of contact paper. I bought two rolls of black for the purpose, from Lowe's, a week ago.

Why I bought two rolls?
Because I did not know how much I'd need. 
And the way my luck is laid out - if I would have purchased one, I would have used it all up and invariably needed a second roll. And when I would have gone to Lowe's to buy it, they'd have been out of stock  :)
That's just how it always, always works. Having learnt my lesson, I always try to buy enough ;))

So, back to contact paper - cut out a couple of stripes, an inch wide -

Peeled and stuck -

And the white peeping rabbet is gone for good. 

Cabinet, check!

Item #2:
Remember I mentioned that there isn't enough 'computer surface' for when both Jatan & I have to work? We needed another table! 
For J's work surface we picked out a table top and legs from Ikea and it's been a few weeks since we assembled the table.

The top is 5ft black brown -

 One side stands on - 

  The other side took assembling - 

Done - 

Next to the table is J's mail station with the shredder, recycle bin and trash can.

All gadgets wall mounted and all wires/cables are neatly tucked away against the wall, hurray velcro!

And our old table next to the painted behemoth -

That gives us enough space for work and books! 

Item #3:

The study has a small-ish closet attached to it, and that needed shelves - six shelves, each approximately 39-42 inches. This was one of the first things I did for the study. (Its amazing how much efficient space utilization becomes once you put in some shelves.)

I first went to the home org section and found pre-cut, pre-finished shelves. That was approx. $10 per shelf, six shelves = ~$60. 

Then I headed over to lumber. Picked out two ten foot pine planks ($5 each) and had those cut to size (40 in). Three shelves to a plank means six planks for $10! And 12 brackets, for a buck each. All the shelves I need, for less than half the cost. 

I sanded the sides/short edges of the shelves with 120 grit sand paper, as they were rough 'n splintery from the cutting. Since these planks are machine cut & sanded to begin with, their surfaces are are so smooth that they don't HAVE to be painted. But some day when I run out of things to do I might paint them white :)

But for now I think we have a fully functional study! 

Next week is going to be full of Diwali festivities and we're really looking forward to celebrating our first Diwali in the new house. Gudia and I wanted to make a Rangoli, but the Indian grocery store had very few colors of the powder. So we decided to improvise :) Gudia found out all there is to know about dyeing rice, and prepared all the colours we would need. And we bought some glitter for embellishment. We spent some time working on our Rangoli today, intend to complete it tomorrow. Pictures coming soon!