No Day But Today, Bookcase Edition

Last week, I walked in my bedroom, took one look at my bookcase stuffed with children's picture books, and said, No day but today. 

For years, I've been thinking and rethinking a way to keep my treasured collection at close hand while still bearing in mind that I ain't reading Goodnight Moon all that often these days. I'd really like to use this bookcase to store things a tad more relevant to my present life

So, even though I still didn't have a plan, I decided that today was the day to just start yanking books off the shelves and see what might happen. 

Here's how the transformation is coming along:

At long last, I came up with a solution to the agonizing tug-of-war over what to do with my books. Considering my two options one last time, to either allow them to continue to monopolize my bedroom or store them somewhere else until the grandchildren show up, I realized that neither extreme made sense to me. 

So, as I often do when I'm stuck between two opposite options, I came up with a third choice that falls somewhere in the middle. 

In this case, that means I'm decided to devote half of my bookcase to our most favorite children's books, chucking them into baskets to soften their visual clutter. The other half will be vacationing on my garage storage shelves until they are called back into active duty.

And now half of the shelves are opened up for new use.

Let's be honest. We all know that I'm going to arrange and rearrange this space with infinite abandon. I have a well-documented and longstanding bookcase styling obsession and this prime real estate is going to keep me busy for a long time. 

(In fact, I'll confess that pretty everything you see here has been changed up since I took these photos thirty-six hours ago. Oops.)

So while I offer very little in the way of guarantees about this project, it's a safe bet that books - more books! - will be primary players in any and all new arrangements. 

With no apologies, I've made several rounds of my favorite second-hand shops to gather up some new treasures. Undoubtedly, some will probably drift off to other areas of the house, but for now, here are some new dwellers for my bedroom bookcase. 

^ Here's a little gem entitled, Off The Wall, which features wacky fashion shoots from behind the Berlin Wall during the 60s, 70s and 80s. Cold War couture like you never dreamed.

^ This cover is literally on fire, and while I have little interest in Napoleon's Russian Campaign, my husband lives for such military tales so I am calling this one a gift for him. 

^ I picked up a book entitled Road Trip and flipped it open to artsy pics of Seattle's Space Needle. Yes. 

^ Never in my life do I expect to purchase a piece at an art auction. But owning a Sotheby's catalog is completely within my grasp. 

Toss in a few plants, photos and my sassy Mexican blanket, and these shelves are beginning to tell a new story. 

Now I guess it's time that I get around to dealing with this: