Operation Home

Okay. I have a confession to make.

Although, I’m obviously a lover of all things home… (*coughcough!*) I do NOT like styling shelves.

No joke. I really don’t.

It’s the one area of decor that I consistently view as a chore. Maybe it’s because it takes me forever. Maybe it’s because I’m picky. I dunno. All I can say is that I often look upon those beautifully styled shelves on Pinterest and other blogs with sad, wistful expressions on my face as I think about the hours and hours it’d take me to achieve something remotely close to that. Seriously…. You never realized that any shelf display that’s ever been posted on this blog took me decades to complete, did you? And then I realize… wait. MAYBE those shelf displays took THEM hours, too!!! It’s quite possible, ya know. That’s the thing about the internet. You only have to share the bits that you want to. You can publish an amazing before and after post and completely glaze over the many weeks and bad language that contributed to that shelf-styling. I know that I’ve certainly been guilty of that over the past year. So, here it is. My admission:

I, Christina Spragins, do not happily style shelves with blissful smiles on my face. I bribe myself with cookies and force myself to do it with a constant stream of complaints under my breath.

There. I said it. I feel better now.

But, and this is a big BUT (I like big ‘Buts’ and I cannot lie…. Oy. Focus, Christina.)… I’m always glad I did it in the end. It’s like a workout. I dread it. Endure it. Then, strut my stuff like it’s going outta style because I DID IT and survived to tell the tale.

So anyways, after I completed the dining room decor changes described in this post (as seen in this pic)…

…those empty shelves screamed at me. Repeatedly. They sounded like those squeaky-voiced ringtones… you know the ones: “Hey! Letme outta ya pocket!”. Except the message that I got was more like “Hey, I’m NAKED!!! Andnotinagoodway!” Yep. In case you’re wondering, THAT is the voice of an Ikea Lack shelf. High-pitched, squeaky, and full of rage.

After weeks of this (told ya… I’m behind on posts), I figured that I’d better get on it. Obviously, waiting for the shelves to style themselves wasn’t working. So, it was time to work the magic (Heehee!).

I started by gathering anything that I thought might work in the space. I collected all the things. They went on the dining table. And I began. I took a few pictures throughout, but honestly, I made so many changes that I missed many stages of shelf-readiness. The process was a lot of “place an item, step back, place an item, step back”. I worked on it intermittently throughout the day and continued to play with it throughout the weekend. I will say that I climbed up and down that chair so frequently that I could barely walk the next day. You didn’t realize that shelf-styling makes you buff, did you? Now you know. You are welcome.

Here’s where I started. I wanted to incorporate dishware since it’s a dining space, so I started there…

I placed larger items first, then started playing around with smaller ones…

I experimented with green, but decided that it didn’t flow with the space. Plus, that bamboo bowl was drawing my eye right to it, so it had to go. I tried again and ended up here…

Again, like the yellow bowl, the yellow bike wasn’t working. It was showboating. I couldn’t draw my eye away from it. So, I went more neutral…

It’s not that I hated this one… It was just too busy for the space when I accounted for the painting on the adjoining wall, so I cleared off the top shelf and started again…

I loved the mirror up there. It doesn’t convey properly in pictures, but the mirror really does a lot for the space in person. Plus, it pulls out the red tones in the painting on the adjoining wall. I added a few more touches in the form of a ceramic milk jug and wood car…

But didn’t love the car, so I took it off…

But this felt unbalanced, so I grabbed a few white bowls from the kitchen and a bamboo plant…

And scene.

I was reasonably happy with it for the time being (I’ve since straightened that crooked bamboo)…

Here’s a farther shot…

The flowers on the table totally clash. I realize this. But, Joey gave them to me, so I forgive them. Next up for this space will be painting the table white. Woo-hoo! I think that’s really going to brighten the space a lot. Oh yeah, and since I’m admitting that I’m crazy behind on posts, I’ve already modified these shelves again (sort of) for Christmas. They’re more sparkly now. So, that update is coming soon, too. Stay tuned…

I love how one awesome find has the potential to trigger that giant metaphorical ball to start arollin’. This happens to me a lot. I’ll just stare at a space for a while and do absolutely nothing to it. Then, out of nowhere, I’ll purchase one item that leads to a much more finished space in no time flat.

Last, we spoke about our dining room it looked like this….

We’d changed out the light carpet for ebony laminate, and basically plopped down our stuff on moving day. A good start for sure, but the room needed a large dose of softening. STAT. I’d discussed my plan for the space in this post, which was as follows…

Paint table white
Hang white curtains high and wide
Add a large, natural woven rug
Hang Ikea floating shelves above Drex

And thanks to that one teeny (well, super large) item, our plan now looks like this:

Paint table white
~~Hang white curtains high and wide~~
~~Add a large, natural woven rug~~
~~Hang Ikea floating shelves above Drex~~

…which happened all in one day.

See, I stopped by Lowe’s one fateful morning and saw this fantastic indoor/outdoor woven rug with a simple black striped border. The border was the kicker for me. I didn’t even know I wanted a border until I saw it. Then, I knew. Must.have.border. The durable indoor/outdoor quality made it ideal for a dining space what with accidental spills, crumbs, etc. Plus, the quality was nice… it didn’t look or feel cheap to me. And the price tag was FABul-oooouuusss!!!

$118 for an almost 8×10 rug!!!!! And I had a 10% off coupon!! I took him home and tried him out, which (warning!) may cause spontaneous hanging of curtains. And requests for already-busy husbands to stop what they’re doing to hang floating shelves….

Which left us here…

RIGHT???!!! So much better!!! I love the texture provided by the rug, and the height of the curtains makes the room seem grand.

For anyone wondering about the specifics for hang brackets and shelves, I generally follow these processes….

Curtain rod brackets: I measure 3 inches down from the ceiling and drill my holes for the brackets. This allows enough space for the curtains to be hung without crowding the ceiling. Now, if my curtains aren’t long enough to allow for this, I hang them as high as possible while still allowing them to graze the floor.

Shelves: This is a tricky one. I eyeball placement depending on the space, but I ALWAYS tape out the potential locations with painters tape first (as shown three pics up). I use a tape measure to measure out the exact length of my shelf on the wall, then I apply my tape from one mark to the other using a level to ensure that my tape is level and straight (basically, I hold my level with one hand and guide my tape with the other). Note: This is WAY easier to do with two people. But, I’m impatient and Joey wasn’t home. I always end up doing this when he’s not home for some reason. These shelves ended up being about 18″ apart and I think they’re perfect for this space.

Next up will be styling the shelves and painting the dining table white. Bamboo blinds beneath the curtain rod are also a possibility if I can find the right color. I also need to hem the curtains.

It’s funny that even though there’s still more to do, I feel like this space completely skipped crawling and went straight to walking in the span of a day. Of course, like I said, it’s nowhere near done yet, but it’s getting closer by the minute. And it’s definitely a far cry from this…