The sorry state of affairs that is our office/spare room/doggie domain has been plaguing me since the day we moved in. It's a weird, sort of round, sort of square hallway of a room with zero natural light that connects our bedroom to the rest of the apartment. I've rearranged the room over and over in my mind (and in reality) and the results are always kind of blah. Well last night I got fed up once again with the ugly. And then this happened.
I'm at it again. No before pics sadly, but needless to say, I went HAM on the overstuffed bookshelf that was the room's number one offender.
Ironically, I stumbled across this post with great styling tips from Everygirl. Would have been helpful had I actually read it, but alas, in true me fashion, I only looked at the pictures. Basically, that's my way of saying, don't hold me accountable for the styling. It's provisional. I fully intend to read up on the art of styling a shelf/nightstand/coffee table/desk, you name it, but for now, I'm thrilled just to have space to practice.
About that chair - so we've lived in our apartment for two years and thus far our dog has been the only one to sit in it. Sad because it was literally hell on earth to squeeze the thing through the four(!) doorways it had to pass through to get in there to begin with. Said chair used to be flush against the wall crammed next to the bookshelves. The very opposite of cozy and inviting reading nook. The little shimmy to the left and reconfiguration of the shelves made all the difference I think. For now at least.
Like I said, I'm going to take another pass at the shelf styling once I get the room in better shape but for now I'm glad to have at least carved out a pretty space for the pictures and whatnot that HH and I have collected through the years - most notably our uber cute cake topper doppelgangers from our wedding!
Thrilled as I am with my bookshelf progress, here's what awaits me next.
Buried under that crazy mess is actually a cute desk that one day I'd love to paint white and pair with some kind of mod desk chair or maybe a ghost chair. I absolutely abhor the magnetic boards above the desk that at one point I absolutely "had" to have. We have to walk by them to get to the bedroom and I can think of nothing less inspiring than a random collection of stale to-do lists, bus schedules and old pics of drunken revelry. Must replace. I'll likely relocate the Brooklyn poster lurking behind the desk and DIY some cheap chic art. As for all the other crap, who knows. But until then, how freakin cute are these cake people??
Totally worth the little white lie I may or may not have told HH about how much they cost. It's so hard to find black people cake toppers that don't look cheap or crazy. Lucky for me, clothes pins are brown and Etsy is choc full of vendors who will dress them up any way you want. Highly recommend Milktea Caketoppers - we're still getting compliments, and now they'll live happily ever after right along with us!
Linking up with the Organize It Challenge at Our Fifth House.
I'm at it again. No before pics sadly, but needless to say, I went HAM on the overstuffed bookshelf that was the room's number one offender.
They're actually two separate shelves that used to be pushed back-to-back and were filled to capacity. Obviously the point of book shelf is to hold books, but I want mine to look pretty and have room for other pretty things - not just books. But I digress. As you can see, the bookshelf isn't the only eyesore in the room but I had to start somewhere. I'd love to say that desk situation was a byproduct of the bookshelf dump, but no - it's looked like that for months. Anywho, this little project was an impromptu after work special and HH, bless his heart, was completely unfazed when greeted by this hot mess. I'm hoping that means he's coming around to my ends justify the means theory of design. Either that or he's embraced my crazy.
I used the same basic principles of organization from my closet redo and whittled down our book collection to stuff we either need to read, might read again, want to save for kids, or might want to lend/show off to our friends and family so they don't forget how smart we are (HA!). This is what didn't make the cut. First to go: the alleged so-called comedy at top left that I've been itching to ditch since I first spied it in HH's bachelor pad way back when. So long, my friend!
Ironically, I stumbled across this post with great styling tips from Everygirl. Would have been helpful had I actually read it, but alas, in true me fashion, I only looked at the pictures. Basically, that's my way of saying, don't hold me accountable for the styling. It's provisional. I fully intend to read up on the art of styling a shelf/nightstand/coffee table/desk, you name it, but for now, I'm thrilled just to have space to practice.
About that chair - so we've lived in our apartment for two years and thus far our dog has been the only one to sit in it. Sad because it was literally hell on earth to squeeze the thing through the four(!) doorways it had to pass through to get in there to begin with. Said chair used to be flush against the wall crammed next to the bookshelves. The very opposite of cozy and inviting reading nook. The little shimmy to the left and reconfiguration of the shelves made all the difference I think. For now at least.
Like I said, I'm going to take another pass at the shelf styling once I get the room in better shape but for now I'm glad to have at least carved out a pretty space for the pictures and whatnot that HH and I have collected through the years - most notably our uber cute cake topper doppelgangers from our wedding!
Thrilled as I am with my bookshelf progress, here's what awaits me next.
Buried under that crazy mess is actually a cute desk that one day I'd love to paint white and pair with some kind of mod desk chair or maybe a ghost chair. I absolutely abhor the magnetic boards above the desk that at one point I absolutely "had" to have. We have to walk by them to get to the bedroom and I can think of nothing less inspiring than a random collection of stale to-do lists, bus schedules and old pics of drunken revelry. Must replace. I'll likely relocate the Brooklyn poster lurking behind the desk and DIY some cheap chic art. As for all the other crap, who knows. But until then, how freakin cute are these cake people??
Totally worth the little white lie I may or may not have told HH about how much they cost. It's so hard to find black people cake toppers that don't look cheap or crazy. Lucky for me, clothes pins are brown and Etsy is choc full of vendors who will dress them up any way you want. Highly recommend Milktea Caketoppers - we're still getting compliments, and now they'll live happily ever after right along with us!
Linking up with the Organize It Challenge at Our Fifth House.
