I do things very much like you do in your way of dealing with books, Sunny43. I, too, love books, and have many "types" like you do, plus I re-read the favorites, and refer to books all the time as well. I also have a bookcase in my bedroom, plus a large one that I bought from a bookstore in the garage, and three 84" high bookcases I refinished in the livingroom. I, too, would love to have floor to ceiling bookshelves! I would love to have a whole library room just like that. I am thinking of revamping the one in my room, as I don't regularly read those, instead maybe I can put the current reading material on there, that is usually in a pile by my bed, do you think that would work for clearing away the pile by the bed? Then put the books that are now there on the other bookshelves, or in the garage. Speaking of the garage books, do yours get to smelling mildewy or moldy, or musty? Or does it depend on what kind of year round weather you have? When you say you have a built in bookcase in your livingroom, is it built into, attached to, the walls? The reason I ask is because I don't understand something--when I called around for a craftsman to "build in" a bookcase in my house, they all said they would make them on site (at their workshop) and then bring them in. To set in. To me, that's "free standing," as I thought "built-in" meant attached to the wall, thus when you move, you don't take it with you, as it's "built in?" Don't people do that anymore? Oh and I had asked for three, with top shelves and a little area that juts out a bit from the width of the shelves, so you could rest a book or a plant there, then underneath that, two doors with a shelf behind the doors. That was probably 3, 4 years ago and the one man said that would be $6,000 dollars, so I ordered three unfinished ones from the internet and re-finished them myself. Now I am going to order from the same people what they call a "cubby," to put boxes of video tapes and DVD's on. This way, I can set it in a 14" inch area next to the bookcases, and paint it to match! I am happy about that, as it will blend in well. I have a question for you all about that: It is a tall tower with I think six shelves, room enough to put two photo boxes on top of each other per shelf, (you can put 10 VHS tapes in those). You can get understated nice looking ones, (I have some in catalogs) but will that look too much like an office? This furniture website also offers baskets with liners, which probably would look nicer in the livingroom, but they are dust catchers and I would like to have lids, tops, on the containers as well. Also no see-through. Any suggestions? Thank you!

My pics are not working above, let me try this again... Here is a link that might be useful: Photos

Julie that sounds horrible. I’m so sorry and let me say it a southern way.. bless your heart and Lord, I pray for God to wrap his arms around and your husband and allow healing. What an ordeal!! I can handle most but dressing wounds is something else. I do hope you have a very Merry Christmas. I can’t wait to see pictures of your beautiful home. I retired December 2021 and this is currently my Christmas gig. My son in law is a UPS driver and I’m his Christmas helper and whatever character I can bring to the truck. It’s fun, physical and rewarding. Never a dull moment.

Ours are painted in satin, which I prefer to semi-gloss. Our trim, wall paneling, and windows/doors are the same finish, and our ceilings are flat in the same color. We have a mix of some painted many years in ago in BM Satin Impervo and some painted more recently in BM Aura and BM Advance. The finish is similar for all three.