I didn’t kick off 2019 with any life-changing resolutions. At least not any that I wrote down. Sure, I know I should exercise more, particularly because of my genetically high cholesterol, drink less pop (or soda, for you non-Michiganders), eat less fast food, you know the drill. Nah, my idea of a fresh start this year was completely stripping my living room built-ins of any décor. I’m a real go-getter, I know!
When we were designing our house about 5ish years ago, my Pinterest boards were FULL of design inspiration. Actually, they still are – does anyone really delete things from Pinterest? Anyway, you couldn’t scroll a page without finding some sort of built-in bookcase among my inspiration pins. It was one thing I knew for sure I wanted in our new home. Lucky for me, my dad happens to be an excellent woodworker, and my mom would tell you he never tells me no. I disagree, but I digress. The point is, my dad was the perfect person to execute my Pinterest dreams. And man, did he deliver. I was a happy camper the day those babies were installed. Over the course of designing and building our home, I had collected new décor items that would fit our modern farmhouse aesthetic. I couldn’t wait to get started, so before I went to bed that very same day, I had already started placing items on the shelves. They remained empty for approximately 5 seconds and until about a week ago, they were never bare again!
Every once in a while, I’ll rearrange things here or there, but for the most part, the look remains much the same. After the holidays though, I was feeling like a fresh new start to kick off the new year. Here’s my very non-expert unofficial checklist for creating a brand new look.
1. Take everything out.
2. Dust (yep, I skipped this step – it was a total accident I swear)
3. Find some inspiration and decide on an overall design. Here are a few things you can center your look around:
a. Color scheme
b. Overall look or feel. Coastal or farmhouse, for example
c. Feature items. Do you want to showcase your latest family photographs? Display a collection?
4. Shop your house. Don’t be afraid to borrow items from around your house that are better served in your new space.
The only thing I knew for sure was I wanted an overall cohesive, clean, neutral look. I didn’t want it to get too busy, distracting, or bold. Last fall, I read Reese Witherspoon’s book, Whiskey in a Teacup, where she described organizing her bookshelves by the color of the book spine. I thought, ooh, that sounds fun, but also, that’s a lot of books y’all. So when my husband so cleverly suggested filling the bookshelves with actual books, I didn’t think it was a terrible idea. Then, I remembered I had a whole collection of scrapbooks I had made from my high school and college days that could take up quite a bit of real estate. Fun fact: they were in the cupboard storage beneath the shelves. So, I took a peek and realized that the majority of my treasured scrapbooks were either white, black, blue, or green. Now, call me crazy, but I consider blue and green to be somewhat pseudo-neutrals, so I figured they’d be perfect. My husband came downstairs in the midst of me placing some items on the shelves, so I told him to feel free to grab ALL of his books that fit in the designated color scheme J Now, I’m pretty happy with the result: one whole row of our bookcases are filled with actual books. Just don’t let my kids get a hold of those college scrapbooks!
To finish off the rest of the shelves, I streamlined some of my old staples. I decided on pencil drawings of each of my kids for another whole row, and metal storage containers along the bottom. The treasure box looking container actually contains about 14,308 tiny Lego pieces. I love to hide toys and clutter in baskets or other containers, and this keeps them out of my toddler’s line of vision.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with how they turned out! Now, on to those resolutions I should probably be working on…