Styling the Expedits

Yesterday I shared how I keep our living room organized and yet comfy at the same time. I also shared that we added an additional Expedit on the other side our TV stand. I'm so glad we added the extra bookcase. After bringing home another bookcase I had the fun job of making both of the bookcase look balanced. I didn't want them looking like twins, I wanted them looking like sisters....same features, little differences, yet you know they are related. Yeah I know it sounds a little strange, lol. Again I arranged our books by color of the spine.


Here's how our corner looked before adding the another Expedit. The corner looked nice, but the space looked a little empty. Especially considering we had and bookcase on the other side.

Now the corner looks more flushed out with a bookcase on the side flanking the TV and the chair I recently painted { for extra seating } adds a nice pop of color.

A little potted plant in a white glossy vase added a nice pop of greenery in our bookcase. I added a personal touch in the on shelf with a picture of my son and I. I put a fabric swatch laying around to good use by framing it, love how fabric can be transformed into art.

On the lower shelves, I used a blue vase and a large beige S as bookends, the shelf below candle holders are used this time as bookends. Its fun to use unexpected items as bookends.

Our 'original' Expedit went though some some subtle changes when we added a new Expedit.

On both bookcase, I decided to have a shelf where there's only decor items and a pictures. Again I framed a swatch of fabric. I found the cute glass vase for 1.99 at Thrift store, love thrifty finds.

That's how I styled our Expedit bookcases to look like sisters and NOT twins, I think they pretty and balanced.

How do you style your bookcases? Lots of books or more decor items?

All Stacked & Organized

Last week I spent time organizing our books by color of their spine for our new Ikea Expedit bookshelf in our living room. I also spent time looking at inspiration photos, to artfully display our books and bring in more style in on shelves. I also got a bunch of tips from the pros at Martha Stewart & Style & Home, that I applied on our Expedit.

Here's our almost Ikea Expedit after it was put together.

We decided to use two large Ikea Kasset storage boxes to hold the frequently watched DVDs, all the barley watched DVDs are in our coat closet. I really the like how well the storage boxes fit in the Expedit and there are such an affordable storage option.

Here's our bookcase now, all stacked & organized. As I mentioned before each book was organized on the shelf by the color of the book spine. I really like the cohesive look the color grouping gives the bookshelf. Even a stack of four orange books looks eye catching.

We moved the Kasset storage boxes the the lower shelves to create more balance to the bottom of the bookcase. To keep all my magazine in one place, I put them in a basket I bought a while back at Cost Plus. I'm so glad it fit perfectly in the Expedit.

Here's a better front view of the bookcase. In place of bookends I used a vase and candle holders. Both the vase and the candle holders tie in perfectly with our living room palette.

Below are two more close up pictures. I took these pictures early this morning on my way out the door - so I will take a few more pics when we have a full sunlight in our living room for cleaer shots.

What to do think our Expedit bookcase? Now the question, I'm asking myself is one bookcase with and art wall or two bookcases? What do you think?

A Stack Here, A Stack There

If you walked into our living room, you would see stacks of books with their discarded covers on the floor. Over the weekend I spent some time in our garage, digging though containers looking for books that have been packed away since we moved to add to the books I've recently bought on the cheap.

I came across so many books I missed, including a ton of books my mom bought us. She bought us a ton of great books on gardening, home improvement, and party basics. Thanks again mom. I really glad I looked our garage, because I found a trio of books I really missed a , The Little Lady Agency books by Hester Browne. I love reading books set in England, so your looking for a summer read check this series out.

After removing the book covers on the books, I began sorting the books spine color. I ended up with a stacks of white books, blue books and black books. Out of all the stacks, I loved the colored stacks the most.

We have a good collection of hardback books and softcover books.

While I was looking for books in the garage, I came across a few few Jane Austen novels, I own - love her. I've always wanted to own a few of her books in hardback.  I decided to get to buy two of her books from Penguin Classics via the great deal from Amazon.com. I'm buying Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice for a mere $ 13.60 each. In the future I'll likely end up buying the The Odyssey, this is a classic I've yet to read and have been wanting to read it for sometime.

{ via design sponge }

Next I need to decide where the books will land on the shelves and apply some styling tips I mentioned today in this post. I'm pretty sure I'm heading to a thrift store tonight, you never know what you'll find there that just needs some paint.

Don't you just love the Penguin Classics book cover designs. So timeless and elegant. What's on your summer reading list?

Stylish Bookshelves

A couple of weeks back we added the Ikea Expedit bookcase to our living room to create more storage for DVDs and books and hey it adds interest in our living room. Before I start filling the bookcase with books, I had to find some inspiration & styling tips.


I love the bookcases below, the dark wood of the bookcases sets off the color of the bookcase spines in such a pretty way.

{ via here }

I also love this white bookcase, the owner filled the bookcase with books, pictures, candle holders and more. It create the perfect visaul interest behind the two charis.

{ via flickr }

The standout feature for me for the bookcase is the greenback ground it makes all the books & items really pop.

{ via decorpad }

Style Like a Pro:


Here are some bookcase styling tips from one of my favorite shelter magazines, Style at Home & Martha Stewart Living

1. Group books with the same color same color spine on a shelf


2. Stack books horizontally and vertically, its practical and creates a more dynamic display


3. Paint the back of your bookcase a vibrant color, or just line them with colorful paper to make the bookcase pop.

4. Don't be afraid to mix and match hardcover and softcover books

5. Layer in frames, vases and objects of varying textures to add visual interest on the shelf's with your books and ditch the boring bookends

6. Don't cram your books in, open space on bookcase help balance the overlook.

7. Books end to end look best on the bottom shelf

8. Group books together by theme

Here are a few Chic Little House tips, I've picked up along the way. Save money by shopping thrift stores for interesting reads on the cheap { read more about it here } remove the book covers and show off the colorful spines. Most importantly fill the shelves with books to love to read, I think a bookcase should be a personal relfection of your personalty.

Do you have any tips for styling a bookshelves?