Time To Rearrange...


Something I look forward to in January is taking down my Christmas decorations and rearranging my shelves in the living room.  I love these shelves!  Our simple 60's ranch had none of the built-in nooks and crannies for display our first home (a 1923 4-square) had.  Purchasing these shelves online from a guy in Pennsylvania that made knock-off Pottery Barn shelves was a very good solution for our living room.  They came unfinished and we were able to stain them as we wished.

One of the best things about rearranging things in your home is that it gives you that "I just bought something new" feeling without actually spending any money. Here's what my shelves looked like when I was finished (too bad I don't have any before pictures)!

I think I have always had pretty good taste in home decorating, but I have a hard time knowing how to actually make my dream a reality.  I am learning.  When I decorate my shelves, I try to keep things symmetrical.  I tried to add some height and also to tie in all of they colors of our living room onto each shelf (green, orange, grey, kacki and white).

One thing I found in our home to add some color and personality to our room was to use a variety of books from our book shelves. All of these books were books that we just had lying around.  I love how the covers and the words contribute to the colors in the room.  I did steal the "Food Science" from my parent's house over Christmas.  Paired with "Handbook of the Trees," it represents my husband and I (he is a landscape architect and I am a dietitian).  I love having the globe up there because it adds some black to the lower shelf, along with other colors, and it is also very handy to have around when we need to use it as a visual-aid for our kids (or ourselves) :)

More books.  "A Sand County Almanac" is one of my husband's very favorites.  I love the gray cover of the Quotations book! 

I am certainly no expert in home decorating, but I am pretty proud of my shelves.  My next rearranging project is the basement- we are moving our desk to a different wall and getting a free game/puzzle/craft/project table from my parents.  Stay tuned!

Comments

  1. UnknownJanuary 11, 2012 at 8:05 PM

    Cute, Rachael! Love the new photos of the kids on the shelves, too. The pound cake looked delicious.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ice Capades

Image
 Sunday, after preparing Super-bowl snacks containing way too much Velveeta, cream cheese and mayo, while the littlest was sleeping and before we headed over to Grandma's to watch the game, I took the Bigs on a new adventure- ice skating!  There are several rinks in our town that rent skates for super cheap.  It has been on my "must do" list this winter. When I walked out the door, keys in hand, ready to drive the 8 blocks to the rink, the kids said "NO! We want to walk!"  "It's too far," I said.  You'll decide you don't want to walk home."  "NOOOO!  We want to walk!" said the Bigs.  Then I thought to myself:  " What's the MATTER with you?  Isn't this EXACTLY the kind of afternoon you were hoping for?? A winter's walk in the sunshine followed by bonding on the ice??"   "Ok!" I said.  "Let's go!  What a good idea!" And we were off.  The walk went great.  No complaints, but
Read more

On Purpose

Image
I remember looking at Claire as a newborn- only a few days old.  I remember thinking, "who are you?"  She was my little baby- so intimately knitted in me and now known in my arms.  But, I had a feeling that, unlike her brother, getting to know her would be like getting to know a stranger.  I would have to be purposeful in developing our relationship.  She has never been an open book, and her ways are not my ways.  Little by little, over the last 6 years, that is what I've done- gotten to know my daughter on purpose. She is sensitive, she is stubborn.  She hates loud noises and loves quiet, grown-up moments with me alone- folding laundry and drinking "coffee."  She has rhythm, she is strong.  She loves to teach, not to be taught.  I have seen her put aside her strong will to make her baby sister happy and tell her big brother that he's her "best buddy."  She loves nothing more to go... anywhere... with her Daddy.  She is sassy to me and
Read more

In My Kitchen... Yeast Bread With Liquid Whey

Image
I have been making  homemade yogurt  for awhile now.  I have hated pouring the whey down the drain, feeling as though I was wasting something of value, but didn't want to save it with no plan of how to use it.  I did a little research and found out that liquid whey is great to use in baking bread.  You just substitute it for the water!  I did just that in my most recent batch of bread.  I used my  Basic White Bread  recipe, but I tweaked it by using half whole wheat and half white flour.  The recipe makes two loaves, and I always make cinnamon swirl bread with one of the loaves. Cinnamon Swirl Bread right out of the oven My niece and 2 of my children eating the cinnamon swirl bread.  I think my dog scored some crusts once they left the table. The Cinnamon Swirl Bread 10 minutes after coming out of the oven.  When my husband stopped by the house a few minutes later, he grabbed this chunk of it and that was that.
Read more