Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Showcase the Bookcase & Other Tips

Just before we moved I shared some of my new decorating goals and some inspiration photos.  Well setting up our new place has been a lot of fun, even if it didn't start out that way.  The first few days were REALLY iffy.  When we drove up and walked in the place was honestly disgusting.  The previous tenant had left it beyond gross.  Thankfully once we called our landlord he came over and agreed that it was nasty and he was very helpful.  He had a cleaning service come in and they spent 2 days de-crusty-ing and de-gross-ifying the whole place.  And then my sweet, sweet mama came and stayed with us for a few days and really helped me out.  Poor lady, we worked her so hard!  My mom is a MASTER cleaner though.  It is really a talent.  So after my mom's special touch and some time for me to decorate I am really in love with our apartment. 

I thought it might be fun to share some of the things we've done and some of my decorating tips, for whatever they're worth. I thought I'd start in the dining room since it is quickly becoming my favorite room.


Its come together as a fun mix of antique-modern-traditional-urban to create a really interesting space.  There are a lot of unique pieces in here that stand out but the focal point is obviously the bookcase.


Putting together a bookcase can be challenging if you want to keep it interesting without looking cluttered and cohesive without looking boring.  Here's some tips to decorate a bookcase:

Tip #1- Remove your book covers.  All those colors and patterns just make the shelves look messy and cluttered.  I relegated all my paperbacks to a bookcase in our office and took the covers off our nicer hardbacks.  It makes a huge difference.


Tip #2- Pick a coordinating color.  I chose white.  If you notice every shelf has something white on it.  This allows the eye to flow easily from each object to the next.

Tip #3- Choose interesting pieces that also have meaning.  Before we moved I went through the house and packed up every piece of decor that I still liked into a few boxes so I could have it all in front of me when decorating.  The pieces I chose for the bookcase while neutral in color are all interesting shapes or textures and most of them are sentimental pieces from our travels.


Tip #4- Use baskets and bins.  These black and white bins from Ikea (on sale $3.99) were the only things I bought for this bookcase.  The rest all came from shopping around the house.  Baskets and bins provide great extra storage while keeping things neat and tidy.


Tip #5- Create small groups, or vignettes.  You don't have to stack all your books straight across.  Turn them on the side, angle them, layer with other pieces. 

Lots of these tips can apply to other parts of the room as well.  Like our gallery shelves on the other wall with souvenirs from England, Brazil, Slovakia, Austria, Columbia, and pictures we took on vacations and loved.



Other walls are also decorated with personal pieces.

 A cuckoo clock from Germany.

 A DIY art triptych from our photo of the Tower Bridge in London.  This might be another 'how to' post later down the road.

Camel saddle from Saudi Arabia.

And windows that are screaming out for curtains.  I'm kind of stuck on this one and just can't decide how I want to dress those bare windows.

My last decorating tip for the day is to keep your eyes open for bargains.  Sometimes they just fall magically in your lap, other times you have to scout them out.  But they're there!  I love our dining room table but it wouldn't have been ours if we hadn't been looking for a deal.  We found the set in the backroom of a furniture store being sold for 70% off in an as-is-condition.  The as-is flaw?  A tiny little piece was chipped off one of the legs.

Can you see that line down the side of the leg?  That piece was off and taped to the side.  Because of that little thing which is not even noticeable we were able to snag this bad boy for much lower than a perfect table!  All we had to do was use a little wood glue on it and no one would ever know.

 The  gallery shelves?  The previous tenant actually left them on the walls in the living room!  Why yes, thank you.  I'll take them.


I LOVE this clock. Way back in high school I worked at a little boutique and this was an item on one of the shelves.  Someone bumped it and it fell and broke- the legs came right off.  It was headed straight for the trash before I jumped in and asked if I could have it.  A little glue later and I've had it ever since and it hasn't fallen apart once.

All the old and beautiful books on our bookcase are my favorite freebie find...actually rescue.  My husband used to work at a small college and one day he walked into the library when they were cleaning out their archives.  "Cleaning out" meant ripping the covers off of thousands of books, throwing the covers into the incinerator, and recycling the pages.  THOUSANDS OF BOOKS!  My husband called me right away and told me to come down.  As someone who loves books I wanted to cry when I saw the piles of beautiful, old books in the dumpsters.  The school had no problem with us going through the books they hadn't destroyed and picking ones to take home.   We filled three boxes of these amazing books.  Our oldest book we saved is from 1850 and the newest is 1897.  I couldn't help looking through the books that already had the covers torn off and some of them were from the early 1700s.  I WISH I could have rescued those too!

Be on the lookout for deals and it is amazing what you can find.  Gather pieces you love that have meaning and purpose.   Find a design plan that can cohesively pull together all your elements and works for your space.  And then you can have a room, and more importantly a home, that reflects you, your family, and your story. 


Brieanna

11 comments:

  1. What a pretty room, and some great ideas for organizing a bookcase!

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  2. You have a wonderful eye for decorating. Tips I will definitely use.

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  3. This is amazing, Brie! I especially LOVE those old books you saved! So sad!!!

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  4. I take the covers off my hardcovers too. I love the fabric + saying that they are "naked". LOL! Great post.

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  5. Hmmm.... I think it might be time to reorganise my bookshelves... again ;)




    (Stopping by via the Taylor House link party)

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  6. Looks so nice! Love those shelves that came already on the walls! Hope you're having a good week!
    www.TheLatestFind.com

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  7. Awesome job! I would love for you to link up at my Linky Party via:http://ourdelightfulhome.blogspot.com/2012/04/show-me-what-you-got-linky-party-8.html


    Mrs. Delightful
    www.ourdelightfulhome.blogspot.com

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  8. I love your style! Loves awesome!

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  9. Great tips Brie! I think your place looks fabulous and what a great find with the table! You're being featured tonight at Mom On Timeout. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  10. Wow! You've got some awesome stuff! I love that clock, that is gorgeous! I think that might be my favorite piece. That is a fabulous find!

    I've been wanting one of those bookcases, I'm wanting to redo my room, if it were a little bigger, I'd invest in one. You really did an excellent job on that.

    You have beautiful windows. I hope you'll show us the curtains when you get them. I'm curious as to what you come up with. I can just tell by the pics I've seen yesterday and today, you've got a great place there. Is it a house or apartment?

    One of my pet peeves is when I walk into a home that has so much potential and the place is trashed. I don't understand why anyone would want to move into such a fabulous home if they have no intentions of taking care of it. I think you were the right person to take it over, a place like that needs an owner or a tenant with your amazing decorating skills and ideas!

    I can't wait to see what you come up with next!

    Sarah
    http://skylarinc.blogspot.com/

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