Have you ever been in a situation where you found yourself unloading a storage unit, and asking yourself what the heck were you paying to store all that stuff for?  I’m not judging you if the answer is a resounding yes.  Me, I have the opposite disease.  I like to unload things, leave them on the street, give them to a friend, let one of my sister’s borrow the rug, chair,  painting or pillow –  permanently.  I don’t know why this is my particular affliction, but it is.  So you can imagine my surprise when I found myself unloading a storage unit – that did not belong to me – to take nearly all the items to the dump – there final resting place.  Not happy!

Birds of a feather.

Among the items that were discarded where boxes and boxes of books.  Having been stored in a damp out-door storage unit for the winter – they were worse for the wear, and sadly had to be tossed.  Having moved a time or two in the past, I am well aware of the weight of books, and have carefully culled my collection to those most prized volumes, and my desire resource books for which I find regular insight into the most perplexing interiors challenges.  I can never seem to remember where to hang that painting – is it 54″ on center from the floor – one of my books will tell me, so you can see the necessity in keeping those around.  Beyond that – bookshelves are all about visual interest for me.

Minimalinteriordesign.com

A little bauble, a wooden bird, a small painting that would be lost on the wall but comes to life on the shelf.  a Chinese Urn, a succulent or petit potted plant, a paper weight.  Large, small, tall, fat – varying the sizes of objects on shelves creates interest.

Studio McGee

There was a time when I thought that nothing else could provide as much insight into another as a bookshelf full of books that they love.  No one could accuse me of being nosy for pursuing a bookshelf, but it’s another thing altogether to pick up the kindle that’s just lying out on the table and start reading the stored book listing.  You mine as well just pick up there phone and start scrolling through their call log.  As if!

OKL

Fear not, a well styled bookshelf tells a story too.  Not in words of course, but I think it will provide those of you that are curious enough to ask, with a conversation starter or two.