31 Days of Pinterest Projects - Day 10 - Bookcase Project Continues...

EDIT 10/31/12: I'm going to go ahead and link this project up to the Pinterest Challenge Fall Edition over on Young House Love. Thanks John & Sherry for having that linky party!! And everyone else, thanks for clicking over from their site and be sure to check out all the other amazing Pinterest Projects back there. :) And I mentioned the source of my pin on Day 5 of this series, but here it is again.


I pinned this shelving unit makeover by Melissa over on the The Inspired Room a while back.

source

We're slowly inching our way through this Map Backed Bookcase project over here. Does anyone else get frustrated that they can't complete things like ginormous kitchen renovations in under 30 minutes just like they do on HGTV?

Today I finished mounting the maps on the other side of the bookcase. And then I was going to hang the maps on the middle portion but I came up with a better idea at the last second. I was feeling that maps on all three sections would just be too busy.

I spent the rest of my free time today working on a little "styling" of the two outer sections. Hopefully tomorrow I can finish my idea for the middle section and reveal it to you guys!

For now, here are the two outer sections all "styled". I'm feeling pretty good about it. I love the way the bright colors from the maps in the background help the colorful elements on the shelves stand out. It's a lot more cheerful than just the plain wood showing through from behind.

Those sections sure have come a long way haven't they? I think what helped a lot was removing liners from a few baskets for a cleaner look, eliminating nearly an entire shelf of self-help books to a basket in another area of the room and keeping only the main categories of books we like to read often on the shelves (marriage books, parenting books, Bibles, etc.) I also tried to layer in more accessories to mimic some of those inspirational photos I've collected on Pinterest.

There are a few things I may actually still weed out such as the four black CD boxes - I talked to Dave this evening and since we moved last year neither one of us have even opened those boxes. They were covered in a thick layer of dust. :) That will definitely help make the shelves seem less cluttered.

We're also considering relocating our beloved Epson WorkForce Printer - Wireless (Google Affiliate Ad) to the cabinet below where it sits now. But that would involve weeding out a lot of my scrapbooking supplies which are currently in that location. Another project for another day...

The following are a few more detailed shots of the shelves:

I love that I was able to add in that green dish that my Aunt recently gave me. I think it belonged to my Grandmother or maybe even Great-Grandmother. I love having all my local historical fiction and non-fiction books grouped together. Ohio history is so rich! And I love that we can include Dave's great grandfather's work book in this collection as well. And I love having fun things such as a few rocks we saved from Dave's giant childhood rock collection that we found upstairs when we moved back here last November.

The baskets hold unsightly things like our small DVD collection,

books on budgeting and books on fitness.

And now for the left side of the bookcase:

I grouped a few large books on the top shelf and brought in a fun wire basket that I've had for years (and I hope to fill it with something fun and colorful like hedge apples), along with a colorful canning jar my mother-in-law, Shan, gave me.

The next shelf down is home to a couple notebooks, a vase, a piece of granite with an inscription of Jeremiah 29:11 (from my in-laws for my college graduation I think...), a photograph I took of a beautiful church steeple in historic Charleston, South Carolina on a vacation and a couple books along with another cool rock from Dave's collection.

The next shelf down is home to a red step stool that belonged to Dave's Dad, Phil, along with one of his childhood books about trucks, a coffee mug that my Dad used to drink from when I was a kid and a cute glass jar holding our growing button collection.

Underneath that are a couple file boxes holding extra paper. Resting on top of those boxes are a couple special items. The framed photos are of flowers from our garden in Indiana and coffee beans growing on a farm in Costa Rica that we visited together on a mission trip in Sept 2009. Also, the ginger jar belonged to Dave's Granny and it actually holds lots and lots of random cords and things I don't know what to do with. LOL...honesty is the best policy. :)

I'll be back tomorrow with something - hopefully with the big reveal of the center section of the bookcase!

What do you guys think so far????? 

I've never in my life spent so much time deciding what to put where!! I need feedback. :)

For the rest of the 31 Days of Pinterest Project series on this blog, click here. 

~~~~~In other news, Levi had a ball taking some self-portraits today with the camera.~~~~~

And we had the pleasure of hanging out with our little friend, Wyatt, today. Here's a photo of Wyatt & Levi playing "parade" around the family room.