Monday, April 2, 2012

Our Finished Bookshelves

Styling bookshelves is a lot of work! I've been carefully accumulating things for these bookshelves for over a month and I think I've finally gotten to a point I can be happy with.  Sorry for the delay in posting the shelves with all of the accessories!

Click here to see how we built the shelves. I am so excited to show you all of the small details and accessories on our shelves, so here's a picture of the whole thing:


I started by collecting books that I already owned, books from Goodwill and finally we made a trip to a local library book sale and scored a ton of books there for $7. I chose books with hard covers that were blue, gray, white or aqua in color.  I wanted it to look like the books coordinated with the color scheme, but that they've been collected over time. I found a lot of older covers which add a vintage feel too.  I also added the DIYed book bundles which I made using paperback books from Goodwill here


I found most of the other accessories at local stores.  I found the lanterns, blue bird candle, faux succulent plant and a lot of other items at HomeGoods.  I got the clock, mercury glass vase and mercury glass votives at PotteryBarn.  


I added a wooden M for our last name and the 22 represents our wedding anniversary.  


I had two prints from Paris when I visited 7 years ago that I had never found a place to hang them. They looked perfect with the colors of this room and I placed them on the top shelves. 



We also got two wooden wine crates from a local wine store to use for storage on the bottom of the bookshelves. In addition, I also included picture frames, vases with flowers, boxes and candles to complete the look. 


Overall, I think it turned out nicely and I can't wait to see the shelves evolve with time as we collect more items. Yes there are a few picture frames that I need to fill, but that will happen very soon!


What do you think??

15 comments:

  1. love it! Such a great job. The first picture I thought was your inspiration from a magazine until I realized it was your house!!

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  2. It is absolutely gorgeous! You did an amazing job decorating. I love those colors!

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  3. Meredith, I am in love with your bookshelves! The green color looks great and they are perfectly decorated :)

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  4. This turned out great. It looks like something in a magazine.

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  5. Looks great! I love how you kept to only a few colors.

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  6. Hi, I love the fresh colors and look.

    How hard was to pain the Ikea bookshelves? Did you use a special paint , did you have to prime?

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    1. We didn't have to actually paint a majority of the bookcases. We ordered them in white and then we painted the back of the bookshelves green and painted the trim that we added white.

      If you were painting the entire bookcase I would say yes, you would definitely need to sand and/or prime because the laminate can be really hard to get the paint to stick to.

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    2. but even for the back, did you need a special paint? Did you sand it ? I heard that Ikea furniture is really hard to paint and the white is really hard to match. What color did you get for the white?

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    3. I painted the unfinished side of the back panels, the cardboard side, because I didn't want to have to prime or sand the shiny white backing that is usually there. We used Valspar Dove White for the trim because that is what CentsationalGirl recommended here: http://www.centsationalgirl.com/2011/11/from-billys-to-built-ins/

      She also says that Valspar ‘Cream Delight’ and ‘Ivory Dust’ are very close matches to the Ikea white.

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    4. Perfect! you are so smart using the unfinished side! Thanks

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  7. I love how they turned out! They look beautiful, and all of the decor coordinates perfectly. All of the books you found are great. I need to scour our local book sales and get some of my own! Thanks for the inspiration. Enjoy!

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  8. Awesome job, Meredith!! The bookshelves look totally professional!

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  9. Your bookshelves turned out really great! This room looks so fresh and inviting!

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