It all started when my friend Rhoda gave me this great big, old sailboat for me ( she got for $2.00!) about a week ago. I brought it in the house, when I got back from our Endless Yard Sale excursion, and immediately placed it on top of the entertainment unit in our living room...
...and that's all it took to get my gears turnin'!
I've put off accessorizing the entertainment unit for 2 years now. Don't ask me why. It's just one of those things. You want to do it, but there's never enough hours in the day. And sometimes your brain just doesn't want to have to think that hard, ya know?
But once I got the sailboat up there, I was immediately filled with the energy and desire I needed to get the job done! I refused to walk past its empty shelves and unorganized DVD boxes one more day.
So this is what it looks like now...
The whole unit itself is solid, espresso-stained pine. We bought it at IKEA. The price of the glass-doored TV Unit, the 2 bookcases and the bridging shelf totalled just $500. Not bad, eh?
Actually the accessorizing is not quite done. I still need a few candles and one small plant. But, I don't think it'll take me 2 more years to get those things. :-)
So let me take you on the tour of our newly decked out bookcases...
Starting on the bottom left, you'll find a basket filled with small toys for our nephews and niece to play with when they come over. I've found that because they feel like they're their baskets, and because they're easy to reach, they even enjoy picking up after themselves before they leave our house. (We may just have really polite nephews' and nieces though) This basket idea is something to keep in mind if you also want to keep some toys in your living room, but don't like the look of them all over the place.
The shelf above the toy basket holds a black-painted, wooden photo box. It holds tons of photos of the Lettered Cottage, and Kevin and I, inside of it. I've always loved that photo of us at the beach on the front side of the box....look how short my hair was!
I used a medium-toned, rattan charger behind the box to create some separation, color-wise, between the tone of the photo box and the tone of the bookcase itself. It got a little lost in there without it. The charger cost just $1.00 at an antique store. Since the photo box wasn't tall enough to fill up the shelf, the charger also helps take up what would be a lot of empty space above it, which is very pleasing to the eye when looking at the whole unit from the front.
The next shelf up contains a couple of antique store books ($2.00 each) and a mirrored photo frame (Hobby Lobby - $7.00). Inside the frame is a vintage Bingo playing card. (Available at LetteredCottageHome.com) To the right of the frame is an old jar I bought years ago at a flea market for $1.00. I love its rusty lid! I filled it with teeny, tiny white rocks that I got from IKEA. In front of the jar I placed a white "pencil" starfish that came from a store in Pensacola, Florida...
I bought the books not only because I liked their color, but I was also drawn to their titles. The bottom book is called, "Give us our Dream", and the top book is called "Fade out the Stars".
The shelf above that holds the first part of our CD collection. The storage boxes came from IKEA...
The top shelf holds a white ceramic jug from HomeGoods ($4.99) and a white plant pot (TJ Maxx - $7.99). This is the pot I need to get a plant for. In front of the white pieces I used a large wooden ball I bought at a flea/antique mall for $5.00...
On the top of the bookcase, I attached a bookcase light from IKEA. I believe it cost around $12.99. We LOVE the ambiance they create at night!
In the bridging shelf, that spans between the two bookcases, I used a row of IKEA baskets. They were $6.99 a piece. They hold extension cords, extra candles, tape, a flashlight and other things I may want to have easy access to, but don't necessarily want to see all the time...
I used a grouping of the wooden spools I got the other day at the Endless Yard Sale, a rust-colored wire jug (TJ Maxx $4.99), and my new sailboat from Rhoda, on top of the shelf.
The bookcase on the right has an identical bookcase light...
The top shelf of the bookcase holds a set of three white ceramic candleholders I scored for $5.00 (total) on the Endless Yard Sale. (These are the ones I need candles for) I also used a plant from IKEA, inside small white pot (also from IKEA). I nestled the pot inside a small burlap bag I got at an antique store (for $3.00), just to add some more texture...
On the shelf below that, is the rest of our CD collection...
The middle shelf displays a brushed silver frame (Hobby Lobby) and a quotecard that reads, "Laughter is like sunshine in the house". In front of the smooth, shiny frame, I added some more contrasting texture in the form of a large, rope knot (TJ Maxx - $4.99)...
Beneath the middle shelf, I lined up our collection of Pottery Barn books. (HUGE thanks to a reader of mine who sent me four of them!) I removed the rainbow-colored dustcovers that originally came on each of them, because I thought their dusty, chocolate brown spines were a better fit for the palette in our living room...
I used two wooden buoys (that I got from TJ Maxx for $4.99 a piece) as bookends for the PB books. When I bought them, the top half was painted "baby pink", and the bottom half was "rose". I covered the rose with Sherwin Williams' "Foggy Day". (which I'm also using on my Dining Room chairs) I covered the baby pink with Delta Ceramcoat's "Antique White"- which is a craft paint from Michaels. I used a thick, silver paint pen to draw a line between the two colors, to add a little bling, and speak to the mirrored frame on the opposite bookcase.
Last, but not least, the bottom shelf on the right also contains another toy basket...
The TV stand is home to two long rattan baskets which came from an antique store/flea mall. They were $6.99 a piece. They're great for stowing remote controls!
The stand also houses six, white IKEA boxes, that conveniently hide our DVD collection in style...
I am so glad to be almost done with this thing! Give me another couple years and who knows- I may even have a bed in our Master Bedroom. ;-)
Layla
PS...I haven't had time to work on the Design Star challenge this week. I'm still trying to get caught up on design consultations before I start taking new clients this Saturday. FYI- I will only be accepting five consultations per week from now on, so be sure to join me here Saturday morning if you'd like to get in on the action next week!
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