When we first looked at our house I fell in love with these custom-built bookshelves and immediately asked if the owners would include them with the house in our offer. Thankfully, they agreed. We have a lot of books.
The left side is David’s. The top two shelves are all Stephen King, the next two are miscellaneous hardbacks and trade paperbacks, the next is stuffed three layers deep full of mass market paperbacks, and the bottom shelf is my overflow, mostly reference books and Bible study stuff. David’s books might not the prettiest, but I decided long ago that since this is OUR house, not mine, I want it to reflect our shared life.
The right side belongs to me, and it’s organized roughly from top to bottom: classics, assorted fiction & nonfiction, large hardbacks, to-read, faith & Christianity, and magazines/coffee table books. They aren’t organized further than that, but I still know pretty much where everything is.
The little shelf over top of the desk has photo albums and a basket of letters from my childhood (you know, before email was a thing) that I’ve saved.
The bookshelves have this gap in between them and it took me awhile to decide what to do with it. Then (a couple years ago…) I came across this secretary-type desk at my parents’ house, which is one of the best places for me to go shopping. It fit the space perfectly and I snatched it up. I immediately primed it and then let it sit, unused, for ages.
A few weeks ago I finally got around to painting it, with my dad’s help. I am so happy to have this as a usable area now. My computer finally has a home, and I also use it to house assorted stationery so I can do all my card-writing here.
On top of the desk I have a lamp made out of a mason jar (that I want to fill with things Meredith and I find on our walks), a coconut mailed to me by a friend from Hawaii, a ceramic fish tray from PaperSource, a photo clip my mom made, a thrifted candle holder that I use for pens, and a little incense holder that I think is cute and I’ve had forever.
The rest of this room isn’t quite ready to show yet, as I need to hang some things on the wall and replace the curtain rod, but it’s getting closer. I also want to get a new chair for the desk since this one belongs in the kitchen. I dream of a rug, but that’s out of the question with our dogs. Still, this space has improved immensely and almost looks finished now. I’m loving it.
From Becca:
Hey, that does look really good. I am not sure when you find the time to do this stuff…but good job!
From Jennifer O.:
Desk fits in there perfectly! I love your little space…
From Nora:
I love how this came out. One of my dreams is to have built-in book cases. Hopefully some day! (Also, how awesome that you made a lamp out of a mason jar. Care to share how?)
From kapachino:
I would, except I bought it at a thrift store! What I bought was totally ugly so I changed the shade to one I already had (although it doesn’t quite fit either, but it’s better) and I switched out the mason jar too. But the screw-on light fixture itself was already done for me. :)
From dad:
What a perfect place to put the desk. It fits right in. I see we really didn’t have to paint the back:)
From kapachino:
We didn’t, but now we get the satisfaction of knowing we did the job well. :)