DH has decided to knock out the schoolroom this summer.  He believes he can knock out the shelves, etc in one month before vacation.  sigh  Okay, I can gear up for this, even though I had hoped for family time this summer. During the school year, dh wants the children to learn to extreme perfection so that means the dc and I have to put in a lot of extra time...then he wants us to drop everything and do a last minute idea of his...yet be 100% on top of every subject.  sigh  So I've laid this before the Lord. Oh, I think he has in mind that I could do the painting!  Oh dear.  I still have to sew dd's summer clothes.  Anyway, this is the final layout.   DH decided to give the children's desks reconsideration as a final option.

We are focusing on the wall unit and desk right now.  We were going to go with the other option in the previous entry because all the computer hookups are centered on the back wall.  But we ran into problems with countertops and joining them together in the other configuration.  DH will run any necessary wires behind the cabinetry...but now he's saying I don't need those hookups. 

This is the color scheme. 

The body of the cabinet will be painted the off white.  I will antique with the medium brown color.  The chocolate will probably go into the recesses of the cabinet where the books will be stored.  The little chip will be the counter top.  The various colors above will be the accent colors in the room...many of which we already have.  DH was trying to talk me into a neon green cabinetry.  Thankfully, I talked him back into the Western color palette. =)

Here is a close up of the counter top, which will look like dark brown leather.

There will be a corner unit.  There will be 2 file drawer systems on the back wall, on the lower part of the cabinetry. DH was telling me my unit will have to be smaller than we thought, since he had not taken any measurements in his previous planning. He was allotting for 3' sections but that would be too large for file drawers.  The unit on the back of our wall now is only 28.5" wide with file drawers.  Finally I got an idea to maximize the space!  One file drawer unit will be next to the corner unit and the other will be at the far end of the wall.  Then we'll fill the space between with regular shelving on the bottom.   That way we can reach in there easily if we need the computer hookup stuff and we'll maximize the space.

DH told me for a while I would not get a new desk after all.  That was so sad because we had planned it to be open on the bottom with pretty French style table legs. Then the dc could easily sit and work with me. Well, now he's back to that idea again. He really wants to hide all the cords and clutter with the cabinetry.  His short term goal is to help me.  But his long term goal is to be rid of all desks in the loft and have a lovely sitting area and wall unit.  I've asked him if I would no longer be able to check e-mail after the dc graduate.  Well, last night he said he decided he wants to replace my desk after all.  He wants the little wall between the corner unit and the big window to have shelving on the bottom.  Then he wants to attach my desk with a hinge but make it big enough for me to work at.  Hmmmmm.....I'm not seeing it.  Oh well.  If he's going to start this soon, I guess our most important focus will be the wall unit.      

I also had another space saving idea.  I want to look for dark rectangular baskets that would fit on top of these shelves.  I can fill them with some of the miscellaneous clutter.  We have allergies so I can maybe find a plast cover to lay inside the top and be easy to dust.  But that should work, right. 

Oh and making a new tall bookshelf by ds' desk and window is out.  DH reminded me of the electrical outlet there.  Well, that is when I got the basket idea for the top of the unit!  And we are going to paint that like the wall unit.  Then I was reading in a decorating book that double depth shelves are good to double stack books. That's not my ideal, because I like to spread out.  But  I have to be real here.  So I think I'll work on that bookcase after MIL leaves...if I don't sneak in some time before!

I told him last night that I think I finally figured out he wants a perfect magazine cover house, to which he always agrees.   I told him, with a big smile on my face, I should work during the day, and then when I get his phone call that he is coming home, I can run around and put any projects that I am working on away (homeschool, sewing, ironing, sometimes all of this and more, etc), get dinner ready and I will be available for....well, I guess sitting and reading while he works on the computer or something.  Well, I was surprised he did not jump on that. However, I do think this is my failure and I am working on putting things away when I am done so that I can honor him with a spit spot house.  And why not put projects into a big pretty basket to take out later?    Interestingly last night, I saw him mumbling as he discovered his clutter and mumbled he should put his clutter away too, and then muttered he was overwhelmed as he had no where to put it and he'll think about it tomorrow.  lol  Well, we'll see how this saga ends up!  =) 

My MIL arrives Thursday and the unit celebration is Saturday.  So I will at least put all the sewing away before she comes.  Yesterday I did manage to fix a pair of my shorts and a pair for ds and put lots of our costume stuff away.  We are in the home stretch in preparing for the unit celebration and we are so excited!  I even got things ready for dh to have a part!  This is the first time he's wanted to be a part. Bless his heart, I have no time to sew him a costume so I gave him a few ideas and he came up with some of his own.  I am really surprised because when we did our first unit celebration I asked if he wanted to participate in costume, and he said no way!  So last night he was practicing his part that I had put together for him.  Stay tuned!