There are people with an eye for DIY and then those who take the entire thing to the next level.
Take Jessica Breen and her husband, Sinclair, for instance. The 33-year-old high school sweethearts and parents designed the bookshelf of their dreams after spying an image on the Internet.
Their incredible structure took them weeks of preparation, 16 hours to put together and set them back around AUD $900.
FEMAIL spoke to the creative mother-of-two Ms Breen, who, with Sinclair, is now campaigning to appear on The Block 2019.
Jessica Breen and her husband, Sinclair (pictured with their children), from Brisbane, designed the bookshelf of their dreams after spying an image on the Internet
The creative couple (pictured) spent weeks planning their shelf, 16 hours creating it and AUD $900 on the structure – they now want to be on the TV show, The Block, next year
Ms Breen said they started by measuring their wall space, giving the image and dimensions to a graphic arts teacher – they then bought panels from a manufacturer (pictured) and put the whole structure together on the floor (pictured right)
Ms Breen told FEMAIL that when she and Sinclair – who works as a builder – had finished building their house, she stumbled upon an image of a similar wall bookshelf on Google:
‘When I showed Sinclair he almost had a heart attack,’ Ms Breen explained. ‘We knew we had to try it.’
She added that the couple then ‘measured our wall space and gave the image and dimensions to a graphic arts teacher at the school I work at’:
‘He magically came up with the sizes of all the panels that we got cut from a manufacturer,’ Ms Breen said.
The pair visited Aussie Cut for their panels, and Ms Breen estimated that they probably spent around $900 on the custom-made pieces.
‘We started making all the boxes, and Sinclair created a fake MDF wall so we could draw the boxes in the right places,’ Ms Breen said
Starting at 8am in the morning, the couple finished the lengthy, in-depth process around 12am the next day – the mother added that ‘it was a HUGE process’, but so worth it
Next, they set to work.
‘We started making all the boxes, and Sinclair created a fake MDF wall so we could draw the boxes in the right places,’ Ms Breen said.
‘Then, we had to fix the wall onto our normal studded wall, and then we screwed the boxes onto the MDF wall.’
Starting at 8am in the morning, the couple finished the lengthy, in-depth process around 12am the next day:
‘It was a HUGE process,’ Ms Breen added. ‘But it was so worth it.’
Speaking about her DIY tips, Ms Breen said you need to make sure you take the time and avoid cutting corners – she also said Google and Pinterest are great sources of inspiration
Speaking about their creation now it’s fully up and running, Ms Breen said her family are huge fans:
‘My boys love the seating area and bookshelf,’ she said. ‘The books along the bottom of the bookcase are all theirs – so they are quite happy to chill for a bit there, read and hang out.
Ms Breen has a few tips for aspiring creatives:
‘All good things take time,’ she said. ‘You need to make sure you take that time, refrain from rushing and don’t cut corners.’
The mother-of-two also said the web can be a great source of inspiration: ‘Google and Pinterest are really helpful!’.
‘My boys love the seating area and bookshelf,’ she said. ‘The books along the bottom of the bookcase are all theirs – so they are quite happy to chill for a bit there, read and hang out,’ Ms Breen said (pictured: the finished product)
Since Ms Breen shared a snap of her incredible creation on the Internet just a few days ago, fans have gone crazy.
Within five minutes, the mum-of-two had amassed over 1,000 likes on Facebook – and at present, she has close to 5,000 appreciative comments.
‘Oh my gosh this is my dream,’ one person posted.
‘How clever is that?,’ another added. ‘It looks fabulous.’
If you would like to follow Jessica and Sinclair’s The Block campaign Facebook profile, please click here.