If you've been following a along with our home renovation, you may have noticed that we got this awesome bookshelf custom made for our house to act as a room divider between our living room & office space. Here's an idea of it in action:
This is the long room that used to be a long garage bay - can you believe it? All this used to be concrete & a garage door! We also put up the wall with the fire door, we're pretty bad ass. The carpeted area is now the living room & the hardwood is our office area - which is still kind of a mess! Slowly but surely guys, slowly but surely!
This is from when we first got the bookcase & stuff just got piled on it. Now the side facing the living room (the side with the carpet) looks almost all put together! Today I want to share with you our collection of books & knick knacks we've used to create an eclectic, old-world library feel. I love adding bits of collections to this bookcase it's becoming a pretty cool piece of art in itself.
This is what the living room side of the shelf looks like. I'm loving the old-world feeling the living room is taking on. Part museum, part library, part entertainment center. This decor really brings out my love of charm, if that makes sense. Our collaborative style is very different from our individual styles. It's been really interesting working together to create our house. The next step for this room, I think, is deciding on what goes on the walls! We've already agreed on an awesome clock and next is going to be the art & wall hangings.
Zach has always been a collector of books - a lot of books on many different subjects. Its something that I really love about him. We styled this books shelf with the idea of a library/museum in mind. To showcase some collections from our travels & to add a bit of old world charm. The most important thing we kept in mind while styling these shelves was to tell a story.
I love when items tell a story. It just makes a place cozier. That's one reason why we curate the vintage shop the way we do! All these books tell a story of who we are, of our interests. We share similar interests in history & art so I'm glad I came into such a wonderful collection. Mixed into Zach's books are my books & tells a story of us coming together. My art books, French language books, & favorite novels now mingle with his & suddenly I have new books to flip through!
For me the colors are a sort of inspiration for me like a giant living of abstract art. The books have patterns - both on their covers & on some end papers - that make me feel inspired. It's like touring the Library of Congress everyday!
Our bookshelf is also filled with little curiosities that make everything a little more interesting. Like Pear Brandy with a pear in the jar, an assortment of pewter mugs, a few old medical boxes with empty jars, a Ball jar featuring my collection of rocks from my first trip to Lake Michigan, Crystal Head Vodka (looks really cool!), & a pretty cool purple glass bottle (my fave color) on the bottom.
This collection of pretty bound books & things that just say us make me happy. I'm loving the old world charm coming out in our decor & I can't wait to see it all come together. We are moving right a long!
How do you style your shelves? Did you have to come together on design with your significant other?
xoxo, Moe
This looks fantastic! I desperately need larger shelves. The ones I have now just aren't cutting it and it's just warped and wedged tight.
ReplyDeleteI love the shelves! I would love to have something like that in my home. I really like floor to ceiling bookshelves. I just feel like I would have a library in my home. I do most of the designing in the apartment. My boyfriend just lets me do whatever I want.
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