Step one: take a picture so that you A. remember how nice it used to look before you messed it up, or B. what a total lack of space that was before you fixed it up!

Step two: while you husband is away for a week, remove one of the plywood countertops from your kitchen (because we WILL have a new kitchen this summer).
Step three:  knock a hole in the wall where the telephone/internet connections were and make that hole bigger and better to prepare for the new recessed shelving/drop down desk.
Step four: after demolition, pack snacks and go to lowes with to *happy* kids to drive around like a crazy mom in those kid driver cart things.  It's important that while your standing trying to figure out which hinges to buy, that you push-spin the kids in a one point circle.  By doing this, you will be able to keep those children happy, read and compare hinge packets AND be the entertainment for a random guy that stood there for who knows how long before I looked up to see him trying to get by my spinning cyclone of kid cart....
Step five: buy hinges for wall, hinges for legs and dowel rods (because the fancy post things were just too expensive to do a novice project with.

Step six: attach everything on the board- drilling pilot holes while the kids are awake, and using the hand-held screwdriver during nap and bedtime. :)
Step seven: ask your cool neighbor to cut off the pre-determined corner because there is NO WAY I'm getting out the electric saw.
Step eight: find the random paint box and pick a cool color- then paint
Step nine: bring it in the house and attach to the wall (using a level a bazillion times)  Again- pilot holes while children are awake, screwdriver use while asleep.

*****NOT PICTURED= finished project with top lock******

Step ten: attach top lock and wait wait wait for your husband to come home.
Step eleven: keep thinking how cool you are that even the next day (today) your hubby thinks its awesome and totally okay that the shelving didn't get done. :)