Project Reveal: New Office Bookshelves

One of the things I'm most grateful for here at Holtwood House is a rather large, bright, front-facing home office. It's a great space with plenty of room for a large desk, project table and comfy chair. There is also a nook of sorts, once a deep-set closet in the former bedroom with the doors now removed. I really wanted to utilize this extra area thoughtfully and initially considered using it to organize all of my craft papers, cook books and the like. I imagined an all-white system of shelves, folders, bins and boxes akin to something built from The Container Store. However, a little Web inspiration derailed that plan a bit.

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I've always admired homes with carefully curated shelves, displaying the spoils of a well traveled, well collected life. You can easily get a sense of the person living in the space, where they've been, what their hobbies are, what little trinkets might hold sentimental meaning to them.  I have to remind myself now and again that I'm not living in the cubby-hole back house I once did and that I too can now indulge in a little display area of my own. I don't have to make frugal use of every inch of floor space any longer.

Flush with inspiration, I arrived at a new vision for the little nook in my office built around this:

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The shelves and brackets looked familiar- though I knew I had not seen them in gold. A trip to IKEA for some wall brackets and a coating or two of metallic spray paint would offer the same look.  Because it's a high profile area that was small enough not to break the bank, I also decided to use a higher end wood for the shelves. A visit to my local lumber yard and I had four ready-to-install pieces of Mahogany.

I did have a couple of temporary solutions in place that I wanted to incorporate into the final design- like the white EXPEDIT bookshelf, which would provide some structured storage and help break things up visually.

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This divine image (squeal!) also served as the inspiration for magazine organization. Previously, I had been using the IKEA Kassett cardboard files to tame my magazine obsession. But I thought this solution was the perfect way to bring my beloved collection back out of hiding. The all-white bindings still would provide the uncluttered visual I was originally after.

Here's what I started with. I had already begun down the road of organizing the glossies when I snapped this.

And here is where I am today with this project. It still needs a little styling, but I'm content with the idea that it will evolve organically, as I shelve items picked up from my adventures here and there. Some of the more colorful magazines are still kept under wraps. I had a few wooden files lying around that I simply spray painted black to keep the color palette cohesive with what I have going on in other areas of the room.

It also still needs some lighting. The black Mouille inspired long-arm sconce recently sold at West Elm would have been right up my alley. But sadly, I am too late to the party on that one. The direction I'm working towards today would add a single exposed Edison Bulb pendant dangling from above by a woven black cord.

I know this has been a long post, but how 'bout indulging this little daydreamer in one last before and after? Because I can't stop looking at it. It just feels so good to have this project accomplished.