That's what I'm talkin' about...

Since I am stuck at home we all win today! Without further ado, the great unveiling of the fireplace-built-in-book-shelf-glass-cabinet-wall:

And now, a step-by-step of how we got there...

This is what we were working with the day we moved in:
Notice the original floors, which were very worn down. We replaced with a new layer of red oak, stained and polished a dark espresso brown, and never looked back.

Then we painted the trim, walls and brick. And we stopped. It looked like this for about a year:
Yeah. I know.

So last weekend it was time.

First I assessed the hardware:

Everything was brassy and shiny.

I removed each piece and taped them to a piece of cardboard. I placed everything in such a way that I would remember where each screw came from. The purpose was to put every screw, hinge, lock back in place in the same hole. I'm not sure this was necessary, but figured it wouldn't hurt:

Next I went to Lowe's to find a metallic spray paint that would tone down the brassy finish. In a perfect world, I would have replaced all the hardware with chrome, but I wanted a quick fix with minimum work and money involved. I decided to get some metallic Rust-oleum spray paint in the dark "Rubbed Bronze" finish. I went with a darker look because I thought it would be more realistic to give the hardware a dark bronzed appearance, than try to find a chrome finish spray paint. I am also planning to use dark bronzed hardware for the adjoining dining room draperies, so keeping the same finish ruled out chrome.

So I sprayed a few very thin, quick coats on the hardware and let it dry:

Next I taped the glass cabinets and laid them on a drop cloth:

The next few steps involved a lot of priming, a LOT of caulking (caulking is KEY!!!), and a couple of coats of Semi-Gloss Ben in Decorator's White. It was all very boring, but surprisingly left me very sore for days.

Then we put everything back:

And one more time:

Before:

After: