Stylin' Shelves



Don't you just love custom built-in shelving? I certainly do, especially the ones flanking our living room fireplace here in the Elephant. I'll always admire the beautiful detail found in older houses. I'll never forget hearing one of our movers comment that these homes should be torn down so that couches would fit through the doors easier. For shame! I couldn't bear to see these places get the bulldozer! Old world charm beats modern construction any day, in my book at least. But I suppose I should give the guy a little more credit. After all, he was the one carrying the couch in, not me.

But back to the built-ins. Ours needed some love. They were displaying a hodge-podge of cards, books, boxes, board games, and miscellaneous items, including a tire pump. There's nothing chic about a tire pump. So, when I wrote my to-do/wish list a few weeks back, the shelves were the first thing on it.

Can you spot the tire pump?

What about the fabulous gold Iraqi tea set box?

It turned out that this wasn't nearly as easy as I thought it would be. I've stared at these things for a week now, just trying to figure out what to put on them and how to arrange it all. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to arranging things, hanging things, making sure they're centered, that there are straight lines, etc. Possibly from my days as a graphic designer, where details were key. So, for someone who's a tad OCD when it comes to decor, you might liken this experience to nightmarish tedium rather than your general enjoyable reorganization effort. Admittedly too much effort, that should have been directed elsewhere like bible reading and exercise. At one point I found myself seriously asking Jesus how he created the whole universe in six days when it took me just as long to arrange two shelves.

But it's done! So, if you're interested in hearing the thought process of an obsessive-compulsive shelf arranger, here it is.

This is what I came home to. The "before", if you will;

Step one; remove everything. Leaving it all up makes it harder. Trust me, I've tried! A clean slate makes for the best results.

Step two; add the largest items first. In my case, it was the two banana weave baskets. These are great for Asher- not only do they look nice and clean (from the outside), but they hold all manner of baby "equipment". Stylish and functional=good! They also tuck nicely under end tables, as you can see here.

Step three; continue to add items, from large to small, until you've achieved the look you want. It helps to go for "sneaky" symmetry. In other words, try to do some subtle matching and balancing. This applies whether you're working with one shelf space or two. (I recently reorganized a single shelf as well.) Here you can see the common elements on both shelves.

For instance, use pairs if you can. As you can see, I have two baskets, two decorative pillows (yes, I put pillows on shelves, that's how much I like them), two pieces of art, two figurines, two storage bins, two frames holding fabric "art" (more on that here), and two sets of decorative items- candles and silver champagne glasses. Oh, and two round objects, one wooden container and one ceramic vase. Okay, you don't need that many matching pairs. Especially if you're only working with one shelf. Remember, I'm OCD.



I tried putting a few framed photos back onto the shelves, but they just weren't meshing. So instead they went on the wall where they're much happier. See them here!

And here are some detail shots, just for fun.

 Remember this guy? He came all the way from Kentucky.

You might remember me mentioning that I wanted a pineapple from Hawaii, to go along with the horse from Kentucky. Well, this one didn't exactly come from Hawaii, but I'll explain later! :)



One last look- it's so much cleaner, isn't it? Ah, there's nothing like a little bit order when it comes to home. And we'd better enjoy it while we can... Asher's not even rolling over yet, but before we know it he'll be crawling. And grabbing. And destroying pretty things. At which point these shelves will need another re-haul for the sake of baby-proofing. 

Tell me I'm not the only crazy shelf organizer/decorator out there! Anybody else do anything similar lately? What's the goofiest thing you have on a shelf at your house right now?

-P.S. The world really was created through Jesus...see the verse at the bottom!

-P.S.S. Remember my comment about how I should have been reading the Word with all that time I spent on the shelves? Well, it's true. So, to get more bible in during the day I've started putting sermons on while I'm doing chores and things about the house. It's great- a constant dose of learning, encouragement, and edification. My favorite places to watch sermons are www.marshillchurch.org and www.mannachurch.org. Check them out!

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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. {John 1: 1-4}