Home Is Where My Story Begins

Shelves in the Living Room

I haven’t been feeling well (AGAIN) this week, so I’ve had lots of time to sit and look around my house.  I really hate it when I can’t “do” anything more than think about DIY home improvement.  Here are a few of the living room pieces I’ve been pinning this week.

I think this first one was from Young House Love.  I love the built in look.  It has room for the tv, but when you look at the space it doesn’t scream, “TV!!!!”

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Again, love this built in look from Coastal Living.  I’d need space for the tv, but I love the way they styled the bookshelves and their use of old books.

Pinned Image

Pinned Image

I know built-ins would be very expensive and we already have have a tv stand, so I thought these shelves from Home Decorators would be a good option.  The were a pretty good price, but the problem is that my budget is quite a bit less for this project.  Actually, I don’t even have a budget for this project. 

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So, here’s my living room.  The space to the right, has been taken over by the boys.  This is now the gaming room.  I gave the plant to the thrift store.  The old window found a new home in the hallway, and the bird cages are in the dining room.  I traded out the buffet/console table for a black one that I had in the dining room.  Essentially, I think the room has lost the “pretty” that I loved about the room.  Having bookshelves on each side of the tv stand, would give me the space to pretty things up a bit.

Living Room

I was looking on Craigslist last night, and found these.  Now, I know they don’t look like much, but can’t you picture them painted black?  They are huge and would really fill up the space nicely.  I was so excited, and I think I even had my hubby on board with this little project.  The person selling them even said they would deliver!  Now for the problem…. they were 2 inches too tall for my room.  Grrr.

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Guess I’ll just sit and think about it some more.

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The Comments

  • Mama Sue
    April 19, 2012

    I love built in anything! Our contractor who remodeled our bathrooms and kitchen is building a banquette flanked with shelves for our tiny breakfast room. He is also building a built in desk for me as well. I hope to have them before too long. He is a friend so he kind of squeezes us in between big job and works on them in his spare time so it could take a while. I will post when he gets them in. I hope you get to feeling better!

  • Anonymous
    April 20, 2012

    Becca,
    Don't give up on your bookshelves yet! I found a link to a site with a great tutorial on re-designing IKEA Billy shelves into arch-top built-ins: http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2011/08/diy-arched-bookshelves.html
    Take a look!
    Shar