I figured that it was finally time to share a couple more pictures of my own space with you. After ranting, rambling, giving ideas and sharing other people's pictures for the past couple of months, it only felt right to begin sharing with you.
To be completely and brutally honest, my place is far from perfect. It's totally a work in progress. At present I'm re-thinking everything from my couch to the wall colours, to which knickknacks I display and how I display them.
And while there are, and always will be a gazillion things to do, worry about and change, tonight I figured that I'd start by sharing a couple of quick shots with you and also fill you in on the history of some of the pieces shown.
So without further rambling, I present to you, my living room bookcases and all the treasures that reside within and on top of -
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| June 2010 |
My living room is home to two bookcases that I picked up at the Real Canadian Superstore a couple years ago (it's quickly becoming my go-to destination for everything from toothpaste and clothes to plants and apparently furniture). I started with one bookcase - purchased with birthday money (23 and on a budget at the time meant that I could only buy the first one....saving up and purchasing the second one on clearance later on...).
Is it sad that I took a picture to celebrate owning a bookcase? Hmm....
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| March 2009 |
I was pretty ecstatic to outfit my first bookcase....with the gazillions of books that I owned at that time (even more now!) it was cool to finally be able to purchase my first home for them. Oddly enough though, more baskets and frames ended up in the bookcase than actual books (sometimes you don't want your friends to know that you're secretly a Sophie Kinsella fan....).
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| July 2009 |
Anyways, as time has gone by, I've realized that my bookcases are the best place to showcase a lot of the pieces that I've stumbled across - whether they be pieces that I've had since I was a kid, or pieces that I've uncovered while venturing through the city over the past couple of years.
I've collected enough pieces over the past couple of years that I'm to the point where I don't want to showcase everything at once, but at the same time don't want to get rid of pieces....the tops of my bookcases are perfect for allowing me to play around and change up the feel of the living room in as little as a few minutes (okay...most of the time I'll take the better part of a couple of hours to play with stuff before I'm happy).
Here's what I did this past Christmas. Basic, but kinda fun, and in someways unexpected. And yes, that totally is a rhino carving to the left of a vase.....he's kind of hard to see, but he's oh-so-cute. My Grandma brought him back from South Africa years ago and he's always been around...
Flash forward to this evening and here's how they're looking - this past week I played around with a few different pieces - removing some old ones and finally incorporating some of newer items that I've picked up over the past couple of months.
Here's a bit of a rundown of what I'm currently showing off....
On the left -
-I found the trophy cup during my horrible year in Saskatchewan. It's one of the few good memories that I have from living in small town Saskatchewan....it holds the random notes, post-its, ticket stubs and other bits and scraps of paper that I've saved from special events and occasions over the past year or so.
-The glass candle stick was found at Value Village. It was originally painted black, but I scratched it on the way home, I kept scratching and removing the paint, uncovering a cool candle holder with a neat silver finish. -The Kodak Brownie was my Grandmas. I found it in a closet a couple of years ago and figured that it would be fun to have out on display.
-The blue glass vase was found at a Bay store closing sale...for the princely sum of $3.99 (regular $29.99). -The postcards you'll remember from here, and the shell vase from here. -The mini of the Italian buildings was originally a pen holder that I found at a thrift store when I was in college.
-The clock, shells, fish bowl and frames were all found at tag sales. When I found the frames they housed pictures of the Pope....which I wasn't keen on keeping (no offence to any of my Catholic friends).
And on the right we've got -
-It turns out that I'm a bit of a shell slut. I don't know what it is about them that causes me to keep buying and collecting them. Maybe it's the fact that each one is different and unique....that they're fun to check out (and possibly the fact that they're cheap as can be and look really neat in glass vases such as this one from the clearance aisle at Winners. -I found the blue glass vase and ferris wheel at Value Village. I didn't realize it at the time, but the ferris wheel is actually a music box. It totally freaked me out by starting to play its tune at 4:30 in the morning....shudder...creepiest thing ever when you're at home alone.
-The trophy cups are recent finds. The big one came from Goodwill and the smaller one was from a tag sale. Three hours of scrubbing and rubbing and they shine like brand new. I was thinking of putting an orchid in the bigger one at a later point....
-My camel is courtesy of a family member who brought him home from Egypt...he serves a reminder that at some point I want to explore Egypt and see camels other than the scary ones at the zoo....
-The books and shell courtesy of random tag sales over the years.
Whew.
And that's just the start. I haven't rambled on about my books and the rules for how you can and can't handle them (there are rules....). Nor have I shared the rest of my living room with you.
We're just getting started boys and girls....we've got a lot more living room to cover. Who knows how the bookcases will end-up looking. That and I'm thinking that they might be due for a coat of paint....
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| October 2008 - The first night in my apartment....note the lack of furniture. |
Stay tuned!
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