The forgotten cases, basement bookcases . . .

Never underestimate the impact of bookcases on your space.  

For years, these bookcases in our basement remained pretty much untouched.  I think when I unpacked boxes from our move (which, for the record, was over six years ago), I placed the items as they came out of the box…haphazard and without a lot of thought.  But as my boys got older, they began spending more time in this room (probably due to the size of the TV and, oh yeah, the Xbox was there too). 

I began paying more attention to the bookcases the more time I spent there too.  They looked messy and I knew that I could arrange them to better showcase our family photos and well-loved books.

BOOKCASE: BEFORE  

Most of us just accept bookcases as they are.  Even if we have adjustable bookshelves, we typically leave the height of each shelf as is and try to make our items fit into them.  So I decided to remove a shelf (I find that too many shelves on a bookcase can make it feel fussy).  The next thing I did was paint the back of the bookcases to be the same color as the wall (Benjamin Moore’s Newburyport Blue).  It made the bookcases feel more like a part of the room…rather than these nondescript cream-colored monstrosities.

BOOKCASES IN THE PROCESS OF BEING PAINTED

Next, I purchased simple black frames with white matting in a variety of sizes and chose some favorite family pictures to put in them.  I placed those first and then added other photographs placed in smaller acrylic frames.  I like the layering effect of the frames…I think it adds depth and interest to the placement of the photos.  Finally, I put accent pieces and books to add a little bit of playfulness to the shelves.  You may notice that a lot of pieces I used were red…that was intentional.  I liked how the red “popped” against the navy and white.

BOOKCASE: AFTER 

So the final look made the bookcases feel less messy and more cohesive.  

Some more after shots: