I have been working over the last few months on the finishing touches in my newly remodeled family room.  It surely doesn’t happen over night.  One item we needed was shelving to house our cable modem.  While completely unsightly and not the least bit aesthetically pleasing, it is a necessity of modern-day life.  I chose a very simple unit from IKEA. The white frame and glass shelves makes it an unobtrusive piece of furniture in the room.

After finding a home for all of our hardware on the bottom shelf, I was left with the task of styling the rest of the shelves.  My hope is that as time goes by it will be home to items I love and collect.  I see a family of vintage globes living on the top shelf.  For now, I needed to start with a few things that I had on hand.  Taking tips from Emily Henderson, I focused on a few key elements.  Trays, larger scaled pieces, books, small collections, and cherished items.  Please remember, I am not a designer or a stylist.  I use a little inspiration from the experts and do my best.

With the center bar in the middle of the shelves, it creates eight small compartments.  I tried to blur these lines a bit with a row of books running all along the first glass shelf.  I needed to use book ends {or get creative with books} to hold books upright on the shelves.  The Shel Silverstein books from my childhood, with white book jackets, were perfect for this.  I continued by adding my favorite books, a lucite tray, candles, vases, a portrait, and pieces created by my boys.  The bottom shelf has a market basket to house miscellaneous toys.  It is still a room for the whole family and those LEGOS need a place at the end of the night.  Keeping with the room’s color palette I stuck with white, black, natural wood, and metallic.  Pops of color come from the book spines and artwork.

My hope was to include unique items as well.  I adore this acrylic block I created to sit on the shelves.  The phrase “Awesome takes practice.” was on a card I received for my 4oth birthday and I thought it was an outstanding mantra.  Using Tiny Prints and my favorite font, I created the text and uploaded it as an image.  It is the perfect size and looks great with the books.  Plus, it is a great reminder to be awesome everyday!

I know these shelves will be ever changing.  As we travel and collect new treasures, the objects will change.  I can also add items from other rooms in my home to give the shelves new life!

Sources for a few of the items:

Seattle Map print/GurglePot/Acrylic Block/Hand Bookends/Globe

{Acrylic Block c/o Tiny Prints.}