Welcome to the last part of my My Little Bookshelf journey. Here I want to show you how my shelves look now and share a little about my journey and what I’ve done for those that don’t know.
What my shelves originally looked like:
Originally they were both separated on different sides of the room and looked like this:
I moved them together and reorganised my books and then finally decorated it. And the end result? Perfect for what I need them for and giving me all the happy feels.
A lot of the bookshelf organisation tutorials online were for people with a massive bookshelf and only 12 books to put on it. I know most avid readers have the opposite problem. A ton of books and just not enough space. I wanted to be able to showcase my books without sacrificing too much on the practicality of getting those books on the shelf.
Which meant I had to be sparse with my decorating. I wanted to add to the shelves without detracting from the books too much or overpowering them, so I decided on three key elements to pull the look together. But first, I got to add a cheeky passion of mine:
I put up paper lanterns to light it more thoroughly. These are battery operated so there’s no annoying chords that needed to be dealt with.
Then I decided to fill in some of the gaps with meaningful things to me. Including this gorgeous teapot I bought from T2:
I really like plants though I’m not always very good at looking after them so I decided to follow up the flowery theme with a Princietta to brighten up my ARC shelf. The leaves are actually pink on top, those aren’t flowers. As they age, they turn green but new leaves will be pink!
This is my little potted plant that used to live on my desk, I put it in front of Sun-Tzu’s Art of War to calm him down (Sun-Tsu, not the plant.)
All up. I’m so excited that I got to redo my shelves. So excited that I went ahead and started creating a library room for myself. Oops. Kind of got greedy with the book space there.
What I learned from the whole experience?
1. Reorganising shelves is a lot of work.
A LOT. SO many books to sort through and place. So be prepared to put in the time and effort and follow through.
2. Have a plan.
How are you going to reorganise you books? By genre? Author? Colour? Appearance? Size? There is no right or wrong, just what suits you.
3. Don’t be afraid to get creative.
Shelves don’t have to just be one way. You can stack some books, have others frontward facing, put them in interesting, contrasting places.
4. Don’t go overboard.
It’s easy to travel from a space saving, well organised shelving system to a hot mess of stuff everywhere. Don’t try and do too much or you risk compromising all your hard work.
5. Have fun!
You’re doing what book lovers do best, handling books. At the end, as long as they’re on a shelf and you’re happy with them, they can’t be wrong!
Thank you for following me on this journey!
Brigid
OH MY GOD. It’s like the PHOENIX OF FLOWER PLANTS KAT!!!
Love the teapot and I desperately want to know where you got your lantern lights.
They turned out beautiful.
Kat Kennedy
Hi Brigid,
I got the lanterns from a shop here called Typo. Not sure if you have it there in the states though.
Sugar & Snark
What a gorgeous bookshelf!! Love it!
Kat Kennedy
Thank you!
Morgan @ Gone with the Words
I LOVE YOUR SHELVES!!! They look gorgeous and I love the decorative touches you added! The lanterns are so cute and I love that plant with the pink leaves! Never heard of it before. So happy your bookshelves turned out how you wanted 🙂
Kat Kennedy
Thank you Morgan, It’s such a relief that they’re finally done! Celebration time! Thank you for commenting!
fakesteph
My shelves need a makeover, but I have like… suitcases full of books that won’t fit on my shelves (my main “big” shelf broke during my move last August) and seriously no room. I can’t even imagine how to start the process. Yours look beautiful; maybe, they will inspire me to at least try to sort mine.
Kat Kennedy
🙁 Man that sucks, Steph (Or is it really YOU!?) It’s a big process to start but it’s so worth it in the end, I promise yooooouuuuuu!
Vane
I love your shelves!! Congrats for finishing this, Kat. The awesomeness of the final result paid for all your effort. 🙂
Kat Kennedy
Awwwwwww! *Wipes away stray tear* you’re making me all choked up!
Julia Welker
Your bookshelf looks great! I should work with what I have.
Becky @ A Fool's Ingenuity
I am so jealous of your bookshelves, they look absolutely stunning. I am continually having to clear my shelves off because I have such limited shelf space so I can only dream about having such a book selection. And those lights are just so pretty, I’ll have to keep my eye open for something similar because I may not have the largest book collection but I can make an effort to show off what I do have to the best of my ability.
Brianna Robinson (@blrobins2)
Love your shelves! And I give you so much credit for being able to organize them. I had such good intentions but the books are like stacked three deep. It’s a bit insane. 🙂 Great post as always!! <3
Shannelle C.
I love that plant! Pink leaves? Too, too cute. What a wonderful addition to your bookshelves, and they look great!