Bookshelf before:
Bookshelf After:
Before I even saw the fireplace at my friend's home, I saw the gorgeous wall to wall bank of built in bookshelves with storage below. Let me paint the picture of this cozy family room: comfy couches, soft carpet, huge gabled window to the outside that frames a beautiful maple, large fireplace, piano, books, games and throw blankets. I can imagine how much quality family time this room enjoys, it's the perfect setting.
To start, the bookshelf was great, filled with photos, memorabilia, books and book collections. I loved the large black and white photos covering the backboard. Said friend and I started tinkering (well, mostly me with her wondering why I continually get sidetracked), and realized that there was just a lot of stuff on the shelves. The first thing you see when you walk in the room are the shelves, and while it was family friendly and family filled, there was too much.
I suggested that she limit the palette of the pottery pieces on the shelves, rearrange the books and streamline the memorabilia. She did this all in one day all on her own and I think it looks fantastic! The pottery, photos and memorabilia she left on the shelves stand out and have more space for viewing and touching. The books look so organized in an effortless manner.
Other tips:
- arrange books in order of height
- bring book spines close to the edge
- give items space
3 comments:
You are so right on all your recommendations - everyone who has visited has commented on how great it looks!
It does look wonderful, however, I lke to be able to find my books by categories and can usually go to the bookcase that holds the gardening books, art, decorating and novels or reference. How did you solve that?
Hi Mom, She actually already had her books organized by category so that wasn't an issue. She kept the categories, just removed a lot of the extras as well as streamlined the number of books.
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