Scenes from a bookshelf

Well I'm at a loss on what to blog about today so I thought I'd take the easy way out and just show you the bookshelves in my living room. Now don't get me wrong, I'm actually quite proud of my bookshelves - my husband is a carpenter/builder and he made them himself (well the stone came from the stonemason & the doors came from the cabinet maker) but he assembled them and he made and painted the bookshelves that are fixed to the top of the cabinetry.


The doors and the shelving are painted semi-gloss Dulux Chalk USA and unfortunately I can't remember the colour/name of Caesarstone (which is crazy because I spent so long choosing the colour a few years back!!). Anyway, as you can see, I attempted to colour code my books but I actually find this rather impractical and whenever I reshelve them now I just put them back wherever. One day I'll get super efficient and arrange them alphabetically.


These are the shelves to the right of the fireplace (the light looks so different in these two shots but I took the second shot immediately after the first - shows you the limitations of my photography skills!)...

These are the shelves to the left of the fireplace. The television is stored in the cupboards that you can see here...And here's a full shot of the shelves which includes the fireplace - apologies for the poor lighting, I took the shot very late in the afternoon. The space above the fireplace looks very bare, but we have chosen to leave it this way until we find a piece of art that we both really love, and when we have this is where we will hang it...
And here are a few close up scenes from my bookshelves. First up are two tiny little Eiffel Towers that are mementoes from my trip to Paris a couple of years back (behind them is an old b&w photograph of my father on his motorbike that holds pride of place on my shelves)...

Two favourite pieces of art - the one in the background of the woman bathing I have had for over 10 years now and I still enjoy looking at it every day. The little bird at the front is a new addition. The pottery jug was a gift from my sister when I got engaged many moons ago...

The little wire birds are a very recent gift from a lovely friend Shirley from Western Australia who stayed with us for a few days in March. The glass hand blown bottles were a Christmas present from my beloved sister. The Durance lavender candle smells heavenly and behind it is a picture of my nephew Matt and one of the horses that he rides (I think this was the horse, Leconte, that he actually rode in the Beijing Olympics)...

I picked up this gorgeous watercolour from an artist outside the Palazzo Pitti in Florence. Every time I look at it I am reminded of the Tuscan landscape that surrounds Florence. The lovely little bowls were yet another present from my sister...

Green is probably my favourite colour - I picked up the vase on the left from a gorgeous furniture and homewares store in Hampton, the vase on the right was a birthday gift from my friend Jenni, as was the little iron bird at front. My friend Jen also bought me back the little green dish from Bali when she was there on holiday last year. And, yet another Durance candle...

The vase resting on top o the books belonged to my mother and she gave it to me not long before she passed away, so it holds a special place in my heart. The vase below it was a recent gift from my sister - she found it in an antique shop in High Street Armadale and knew that I'd love it...

These are bits and pieces of nature that we've picked up from our walks on the beach and in the countryside. The starfish on top was picked up on the beach in Fiji by my son several years ago. The bowl itself was bought back from Namibia in Africa by my husband when he was there working many years ago...

And last but not least, a card especially made for me by my beautiful sister Jacky for my birthday last year, and a small voluspa candle that was a gift from my friend Alex...
I hope you've enjoyed the 'tour' of my bookshelves which hold so many of my little treasures.