SFGate

olldbobbi I would suggest you pare it down. Less is more and less makes a better statement. Books or candles or birdhouse or vase.....It's just too cluttered right now. If you can eliminate about half of what you have on there, I think you will like it much better. And less to clean!

judyg


Just books. Easy to remove for your Christmas Nativity.

jkhoffman Thank you! I started with less, and thought I should add things. Off with the clutter!

bagozziclan paint the back and sides a slightly darker shade than the walls, items will pop more.

Dar Eckert Agreed. Only one or two decorative items per shelf.

Decorative Arts & Design Instead of painting, I place one or two small prints or oils leaned up in the back.....draws the eye into the bookshelf...then you can place books horizontally, while adding a dimensional object.....keep your scale in check.....bigger is better, less is more.

anitajoyce Remove everything on the top shelf , the record albums and also the candles. Add more books instead. Arrange the books so that one on every other shelf is facing front.

EB Interiors i would start by sorting out some of those items in decorative bins or baskets.... you can also paint or wallpaper the back wall to give it some wow factor.

jkhoffman Loved all of your ideas and will try them all! For tonight, I just had to clear some of the decorative items. I hid the LED candles behind the books, so we still get the soothing candlelight without so much clutter. The first picture is a little dark - the flash is off so I can *almost* show how the lighting looks. My husband is sure I will reorganize again! Also including a picture with flash. This is fun! More advice is always welcome!

Custom Home Planning Center increase the front edging of the shelf to 1 1/4" or go to 2 1/2" and add a cove mold that echos your door casing or crown mold.
I do like the added led up lights as a simple addition.
More you might consider switching out the wood to 3/8" glass for the top two shelves to let the lights have a greater effect.

epdupree Keep violin and birdhouse on top shelf. Replace clock with unframed classic print leaning againest wall behind violin. Something with rich color so shelf is not so monochromatic in color. It will pop and be easily removed for holiday decor later.

Vikrant Sharma Homez See just getting rid of the Clock has done wonders , look at this for inspiration .

Gabberts Design Studio There are a lot of colors going on within the shelves, especially with all the spines of the books. Try pulling out one or two colors from the books and adding accessories in only those colors to create continuity.

jkhoffman So many great ideas, thanks everyone!

bcreaytiv Notice Judyg's pic and Custom Home's comment. Adding some trim to the built in would really customize it! Since you have the height on the top shelf maybe you can stand your violin upright?

Jamieson This might sound a little silly, and fairly impractical...but quite a few stylists are reversing the spines of the books and facing them to the back of the cabinet. Visually all you would see is white, creamy pages. Just don't be in a rush looking for your new Danielle Steel, lol!
For storage of all those fantastic vinyl LPs please check out some of these affordable options from Sleevetown http://www.sleevetown.com/record-storage.shtml Good luck!

Charmean Neithart Interiors, LLC. Jamieson. Where have you been? So happy to hear from you!

Jamieson Hi Charmean! I've been working on a few projects and had to abandon my Houzz time! Missed y'all!

Charmean Neithart Interiors, LLC. Glad you're back.

addys Nice job on your editing. Ikea has great storage items that can accomodate LPs. I use the Lekman box in Clear for mine. They fit perfectly. They now have bright blue and red. Here is a link to check out http://www.ikea.com/us/en/search/?query=expedit+storage.

I have an idea that may help if you'd like to shelf your books with spines on the inside but want to more easily access your books. You could type up an Index of your books for each shelf in the same order you display them. Tuck it in the back so you can easily pull it out for reference.

Good luck!

rivers300 wow your new pics look great, good job.

Thomas Yea I really like the ideas... Have you tried going all the way with this space... like glass shelves with a puck light at the top to really show off your stuff in a show case kind of design ?>

suzyq101 I too have turned my books spine in and could not lay my hands on the ones I wanted. so i covered them in plain newsprint, the same stuff movers use to wrap your dishes etc.. . print off the book name and author on clear lables and apply them to the spine. yes its a bit of work but the finished product looks great and if you do a few at a time while watching your favorite tv show it 's not so bad.

jkhoffman Bcreaytiv, I'm considering putting my violin in a shadow box frame. I can't play a note, so I don't need it out all the time. I collect miniatures but they are displayed in a small curio. So yep - thinking of ditching the clock I dislike and framing the violin. Considering the moulding too, books backwards - all great ideas!

jkhoffman I snagged a print from elsewhere in the house to see how it looks without the clock. What do you think? Something slightly larger? Some books spines to the back, I like seeing the creamy pages. Also will check out album storage from Ikea. We can't part with the vinyl! One with flash, one without so so can see the accent lighting and candlelight.

bagozziclan it's getting there. I like the print. I think, however, the bottom shelf shouldn't be so symmetrical, have a couple different stacks of heights, not all exactly the same. Or try the print on the frame holder on the top shelf over toward the corner, keep violin there too but off-center everything a bit.

Dar Eckert Looks good! Try setting the violin neck up against the wall to give some vertical movement.