Shelf Addition

My sweetie loves books. No doubt about it, he is a book collector. Lately those books have been collecting all around the house – on the floor – the tables – the fireplace hearth – you name it – any place there is an open space, more than likely you would find a book. Now don’t get me wrong, I love his books and I admit it, I am a collector too. I collect decorations – and I have a whole storage room of those! (Or maybe two.)

For months we had talked about adding a bookcase to our house, where we could store all of those many books. Previously, we had used a vintage kitchen hutch in the space, but it really wasn’t serving the purpose and really didn’t fit into the current look of our home.

My husband prefers things to match. Now right here, I have to admit, I am not at all a “matchy match” kind of girl. As we discussed the bookshelves, he really wanted them to match all of the other cabinets in our home. And I do mean ALL of the cabinets in the house – the family room – the bathrooms – the kitchen – the laundry room and every other room in the house has the same style and type of cabinet – all matching. If you remember, I recently married my sweetie and all of this was decided long before my opinion became a part of the decision process. But I am learning to love his style – and I think he may even be adjusting just a little to mine!

Two months ago we took the plunge and ordered the “matching bookshelf”.

On Friday the shelves were delivered and it is amazing how it changed the look of the space.

The morning of installation began with the installers measuring the baseboard where the shelves were to be placed. I wasn’t aware exactly what they were going to do and to my surprise, they were actually removing the baseboard where the cabinet would be installed. These were truly to be “built in” shelves.

I have to admit, it made me nervous as I watched them begin to cut through the wood.

Once the cuts had been made and the baseboard removed, the bottom half of the unit was set into the space. One side of the cabinet was to contain drawers for storage and the other side held shelves to hide some of the many books.

The unit was balanced to make sure it was in the proper alignment before anchoring it to the wall.

The top section was then added and again balanced.

Already it is making a difference in the look of the room.

The doors to the bottom were installed, and shelves were added to the upper portion.

Once the installation was completed, the real fun began. I grabbed a few things from around the house, readjusted the shelves and began redecorating each section.

The paper jacket covers were removed from the books to give it a “library” feel. (I did keep them all in case we would ever want them back on.)

One of the prettier book covers was left on and positioned so the cover could be seen.

A few books were laid on their sides to add height to a container of grapes.

Paperback books were discreetly hidden behind a container of faux greenery.

A bit of my “go to” ivy from Hobby Lobby was tucked into the top of a pitcher. A color coordinated cluster of grapes was placed to its side to tie in with grapes used on the lower shelf.

Family pictures were added to a few of the shelves to personalize the look.

We love how the space has been recreated. The bottom portion allows us to store his ever increasing collection of books and the upper portion allows me to indulge in my love of decorating – a perfect blending of two passions.