New Bookshelves in the Great Room

Although I am finished showing you the tweaks we had done in our kitchen this summer, I have one more project to show you.  Ever since we moved in four years ago, I have wanted to fill a wall in our great room with bookshelves.  Since Mr. Right has been away all summer, and since Carpenter Greg was going to be here anyway, I had him custom-build shelves for the space.

There they are.  There’s a LOT of real estate in those shelves.  The irony is that when we moved here and downsized, I got rid of almost all of my books.  Every book that I purchase now, (except cookbooks and decorating books) goes on my Kindle.  So, I had to practically scavenge to get enough books to even start decorating the shelves.

 

My mother gave me some books, and my neighbor gave me some.  That’s why those top shelves are empty.  I might not put books there, though.  I might put a simple ironstone or blue and white transferware platter in each one.  I will have to bring in the ladder to do it.

 

 

Here is the wall before the shelves.

 

 

I had the bottom shelves enclosed.  Our wedding china and other dinnerware items we don’t use often are stored in there.

 

I asked Carpenter Greg to build the center shelves around this old Kentucky sugar chest which was in the spot before.  He made extra shelves so if/when I remove the sugar chest, I will just insert those shelves.

 

 

Now, let’s take a look at what’s on the shelves.

 

If you ever see a set of books like these, grab them.  I bought this set (they made the move) several years ago at the local library’s annual book sale for less than $10.00.  I bought them because I thought the colors would be good for decorating, and they are.  There are colors for every season.  I recently saw an identical set on One King’s Lane for $200.00.

 

 

This little tole tray is the only accessory I had to purchase for the shelves other than a few books from Goodwill.  I found it at a local consignment shop.

 

I opted to keep the background color the same as the rest of the room, but I can easily paint it if I want more color.  Thankfully, all of the shelves are removable so a paint job would be easy.

 

 

I won that Frenchy book end at Haven.

 

 

This little bird cage was ready for the trash until I added some blue paint to it, and I put a colorful piece of scrapbook paper on its bottom to add even more color.  Now it is quite sweet.

 

The seltzer bottle came from Paris, and the colorful pencils from Argentina.

 

 

This demi-john was a smart impulse purchase while I was waiting to catch a train in France.  There just happened to be a market next door, and I had a few extra minutes to do some browsing.

I bought those spools on ebay after seeing some in Kitty Barth0lomew’s book.  (What ever happened to her????)

 

My art teacher did the little oil painting while traveling in Ireland.

 

Our antique privacy screen also fits right in between the new shelves.  I always keep it folded shut except when we have dinner guests.  Then it just slides into place and hides the kitchen.

 

Mr. Right is finally home, and he took a tour of the improvements that were made while he was away.  Don’t worry…..he knew about them ahead of time.  He gave a thumbs up which meant a lot to me.  And I have to add that it is soooo good to have him safely home.  He is fit and tan but tired.  I don’t think we are going to do the Pittsburgh – DC ride that we have done the past four Septembers, but we are headed to Italy in October to do some bicycling over there.

 

We just want to give you a heads up that we will be returning to our “Seasons” Saturday Selections” posts this coming Saturday.  We might miss a Saturday here and there, but we are excited to share with you once again different things that we find interesting on the world wide web.  You all have a great day.  Thanks for stopping in.

 

Take care.