nathan's anni-birthday present: man room makeover

I confess, I'm a bad blogger. Seems like we've had so much going on the last month that I have kept putting off updates, and now it's been far too long to make excuses! So sorry.

BUT - I do have something fun to share with you! You may or may not have seen pictures of Nathan's designated "man room" that had yet to be completed:





Not much to speak of, except that there was a lot of work to be done. Nathan had said he wanted to put in shelves over the window and closet, get some favorite posters/photos framed, have class cut for the top of the Jack Daniels barrel, and basically just get the room in working order. Well - as a surprise for him on our second anniversary (July 7th) I got my family in on my plans and everyone helped me pull the whole thing off.



It started off with my idea to buy him a couple manly barstools to sit next to his barrel, since he had no seating whatsoever, and to get the framing done that he wanted. But when I started thinking about the possibilities of what I could pull off, it turned into a major completion of everything he wanted and more.



I found a set of barstools on Craigslist for $35 and managed to sneak the posters and photo he wanted framed out of the house without him noticing -- no small feat, since he likes to show off his collection! Then, I asked my dad to help plan and install the display shelves for over the window and closet. From there, my parents really jumped in and not only had custom glass cut for the barrel, but my dad built an amazing 8-foot-long bench, custom-made for storing Nathan's record collection (my bro-in-law Justin helped). The bench is honestly the crowning glory of the whole room - I am still so impressed that Dad managed to build and stain the whole thing within just a few days of getting home from a Colorado vacation.



My sister helped me plan out a new room arrangement, hooked up the cable to the television (very important, of course) and we spent some time shopping with my mother for the finishing touches -- which included a banjo hanger, bolster pillow, rug gripper, and a couple shelves for displaying his current favorite vinyl. The most exciting part of the day was probably waiting for phone calls from the glass company and framers to let us know that the glass and custom frame job were finished and ready to picked up. We got the last framed poster hung and a record under the needle by the skin of our teeth.



There are just a few finishing touches that still need to be made - the shelving has to get painted in the trim paint, and the bench needs to be polyurethaned - but we should be able to get that done without too much trouble. For now, the room is a total hit. Nathan was completely shocked, surprised and excited, which was the best part! I thought for sure he would suspect something, but he had no idea. On top of that, his friends think his man room (and especially his new record storage bench) is awesome. We played our first few games of foosball in there the other night, and tonight we're watching the season premiere of Entourage in there as well. I think it was a total success - and couldn't have done it without my family's help! Thanks from both of us.