Re-Working a Bookcase

When I set my Home Goals for 2012, one of the things I included was to rework the built-in bookcases in our living room.

So last week, I got to work making some changes – nothing revolutionary mind you, just “finishing” them a bit more.

This is where I started. Pretty haphazard and boring.

One thing I should say is that these bookcases are meant for books.

It would be fun to style them out, but then where would I go with all of our books? Their main function is book storage.

So I started by removing anything that was not a book and this is what I was left with.

And this is what my living room looked like. Ugh.

I decided, that for the most part, I liked having all the books together in a section and then open sections for decor. The books are roughly grouped by categories. I used a random pattern of where I placed them but left all of the upper sections which have a light without books.

This is where I was partially through the process.

And here is where I ended up. Quite the difference between taking pictures at night and in the day!

Most of the items are vintage treasure finds or sentimental mementos. The print in the back of this section used to hang in my grandfather’s office.

The black and white photograph below is of my husband as a boy at his family’s sugar house and the jars are filled with sea glass we have collected as a family over the years.

The canister in the top is a liquor canister in the shape of the state of New Jersey – and this Jersey Girl loves it!

This is a very old bible that my youngest daughter actually bought at an estate sale.

One of my favorite all time photographs that I took of my kids feet. I have a thing for baby feet.

Overall, I am much happier with how it flows and ties in with the room. I also feel like it is set up now that I could easily change and add new things as new treasures are discovered!