Home Decor: Update Your Bookshelves for Spring

So it’s almost Spring. It’s like right around the corner (March 20, 2016). And that means I start getting a hankering to rearrange things and brighten up the rooms in our home.

One of the easiest rooms (for me) to work with is the Living Room. A few big pieces of furniture, a plant or two, a pian I can’t move and assorted odds and ends displayed on some bookshelves make it easy to give it a new look. And one of the easiest things to do is to change out things showcased on said bookshelves.

Now before you look around for a pinterest worthy pic of my well appointed bookshelves be advised. I haven’t actually done any work on them yet. I’ve been working it out in my mind. Reading about making them look prettier. Taking stock of what I have (and what I need to get rid of).  And thinking about what kind of look I want.

Bookshelf Background

We have two simple Hemnes Ikea bookshelves in our living room. They were originally for our home office but since moving you know how things don’t always work where they did in the old home. So we’ve swapped the bookshelves that were formerly in our home office (the Hemnes) to the living room and vice versa.

Moving the the Hemnes bookshelves was a stroke of genius (tip: shop at home first). They are a bit lighter faux wood (never sure what these things are made out of) and have brought a slight Fixer Upper (Chip & Jojo) feeling to the room. And I like that 🙂 This also bodes well for spring decor.

I haven’t actually started decorating these shelves for spring but you’re going to walk through some lovely ways to update a bookshelf for Spring with me.

1. Don’t over do it. Every spec of space of a bookshelf doesn’t need to be covered. I used to fill my bookcases up from top to bottom with books. I love books but I have other bookshelves in other rooms so I’ve been sharing the love. It looks so much better, especially in the living room, with space to breathe.
3. Use the bookshelves in the living room to display my favorite books. Not just everything I own. I don’t have a (good) bookshelf in my kitchen but I have a fair number of cookbooks. So that meant I used to stuff my living room bookshelves with books. I’ve since weeded through them (thanks for 34 weeks of clean). I put a select few in the living room for guests to browse through. These are usually the larger coffee table style books, interesting cultural themes, and desserts of course.
4. Showcase pretty greeting cards. These are easy to change with the seasons as they come in for birthdays, anniversaries, etc.  It’s kind of a thing now in my home to showcase the current birthday or anniversary cards until the next flood comes in. If there are too many just a select few. And the more lovely the better. BTW check out these The White Shanty on Etsy (see image below). She’s having a current giveaway over on FinchnWren so be sure to stop by and enter (and tell them Kemi sent you).Handmade Pop Up Greeting Card from Paper Doll Greetings
5. If you can add a bit of green to your shelf that (I think) adds a simple touch of beauty. I don’t have (at the moment) any such small plants at my disposal. And I have to think about lighting and such. But this is something that looks very fresh for spring.

   

   So what do you think? Inspired to do some spring decorating on your bookshelves?