Reading Rainbow

So, do you remember me mentioning in this post how we still had some things left to unpack? Three months into living here? Just camping out in the breakfast nook. Some of those things were our books. Well well, I finally got tired of seeing them there and decided to unpack them a whopping...wait for it...nearly 4.5 months after living here. You may wonder how we made it all that time without, a) the boxes getting in the way, and b) not reading or needing a single book. Well, we haven't used the breakfast nook as anything except storage (obviously) since we moved in, mostly because we don't have a table and chairs for it, though big plans are to come for that space. Heck, we don't even really have chairs for our dining room table. (That's a lie. We have 4, but they are metal and vinyl and horrible and uncomfortable and I hate them. But that is what we have to sit on for now, until we get the moolah to buy some...either those or BYOC if you ever come to dinner. ) Oh. And about the needing-to-get-to-books part? We conveniently discovered that the bicycle repair manual we needed was right on top. And when Darren wanted a book to read he just picked one off the top. I guess we're lucky/lazy like that.

Anyway, with my sudden burst of motivation - or annoyance (you decide) - I dragged all the boxes upstairs to our guest room, where our bookcase has taken up residence.

There it is in all its nekkid glory. Since I'm still gathering ideas for how to decorate this room, and our books clearly needed a home, I thought I would try a cheery arrangement to brighten the space a bit more until I can do something with it. Enter Pintrest. Idea-finding love of my life (second to Darren of course). Check out these beauts:

Now if that isn't bookcase porn, I don't know what is.

Well, THIS is too. Possibly the most book-porniferous of all.

I had to share, though it’s not exactly applicable to our place. We all know my house does not have enough space for a library nor do I even own that many books.

Anyway, simple task at hand. Sort books by color. I started by putting them in separate piles according to color group. Some people say not to judge a book by its cover, but, well, that’s exactly what I did.

I never realized I had so many black and white bound books. That kinda put a damper on this whole color thing, but not completely. I started to combine some of the groups, trying to visualize which colors might flow well into each other to make a nice gradient effect for when they would be sitting on the shelves. More obvious were the reds, oranges, and yellows, but surprisingly the greens and blacks also flowed well into each other too. Doing this on the floor seemed to be the best bet, since it allowed me to spread out versus having to keep going up and down, pulling things on and off the shelves if I had tried to organize everything directly on the shelves.

I didn’t really know which color to start with – and honestly didn’t feel like over-thinking it – so I just kind of put them all up there, starting one shelf down to leave myself some space to arrange. Somehow this left me with empty top and bottom shelves.

Hmm...I thought I had more books than that. Maybe because we formerly used these shelves to store all our books PLUS dvds and records. Minor details. Our dvds have a new home in our media cabinet, but our records were still in a box in the corner of the breakfast nook, so I put them back on the bottom shelf where they used to live. Afterall, nobody puts baby records in a corner. I had been itching to find a new spot for them downstairs, but took the fact that they were still in a box as a hint to just return them to their former ‘home’ (color grouping them in the process as well). Then, I figured the leftover gaps were an opportunity to unleash my boxes of frames and décor which had also been nestled in the breakfast nook all this time. (embarrassed face.) I just put in some of my more random/colorful frames in groups, a couple candles, and an original painting I picked up during my 6 months in Costa Rica. Oh, and a sign that Darren picked out, which reads, "Friends Welcome, Relative by Appointment Only." He thought it was funny.

Take a look it's in a book, bookcase reading rainbowww.

Man I used to love that show. Back on track. Here's closeup of the lower half of the shelf.

Ahhh, much better. Not that all the rando extra stuff I put up will definitely stay, but it's a solution for now. At least it finally looks like someone uses this room for something besides clothing storage. And ironing. (Even if we really don't.)

What else do you think would look good on the shelves? I was thinking it might be fun to put a tray or basket with some guest amenities in place of some of the frames in that lower section for when people come to visit. Any suggestions on what you might like to find/use if you came to stay? This room definitely needs a makeover, but I thought some little touches would help make it nice for those who come to visit in the meantime. I love to entertain and would love your input!