HOW I ADDED OLD WORLD STYLE TO A VINTAGE CUPBOARD

My grey cupboard has always been a part of my kitchen.  When we renovated the kitchen I thought about selling it, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  There really wasn't a good spot for it in another room.  For now it's in our family room until I come up with another solution.  Here's what it looked like in the kitchen before we renovated.

I wanted to change it up a bit.  My inspiration was this bookshelf designed by Tara Shaw.  I like the look of wonderful books packed in to a space and going in all directions.   If you don't follow Tara, you should.  She's one of my favorite designers.  Here's the link to her Instagram account: 

@tarashawdesign.

TARA SHAW DESIGN

You can see that I did pack in the books and have them going every which way like the inspiration.  Once I got started though, my old world bookshelves took a different route.  I wanted to mix objects and art in with the books and show the pages as well as the spines and covers.  

 

Do you find the wavy rippled edges of old books just as interesting as the spines?  I do.  Many of the books were multiples so I was able to show them from every angle ----the marbleized covers, the spines, and of course the irregular pages.  Don't miss the sphere I used as a bookend.  It's a heavy ball covered in nails.  I purchased it from a friend who found it in Paris.  I have three and they're  definitely favorites.

WAVY EDGE PAGES AND FRENCH NAIL SPHERE

Even better are the books with marbleized pages.  I just had to display the pages instead of the spines.  I tucked a wooden bowl in to the corner.  It's filled with strands of glass beads that pick up the colors in the books.

BOOKS WITH MARBLEIZED PAGES

I also frequently add architectural pieces when I'm styling bookshelves. 

 These plaster corbels are perfect bookends.  

PLASTER CORBEL BOOKENDS

I couldn't forget to add some art.  I've had this vintage oil for many years.  I think I shared this before, but I found it at an auction hidden in the bottom of a box lot.  

VINTAGE OIL IN THE STYLING MIX

There's more art in another corner.  I placed these mini french scenes on to bamboo easels and mixed them in with some books with paper labels.

MINI FRENCH ART ON BAMBOO EASELS

What can be better than bird art on a nest easel?

BIRD ART ON NEST EASEL

These natural wood turned candleholders blended perfectly with all the other warm browns on the shelves.

CANDLEHOLDERS IN WARM TONES

To add a little color, I repeated the glass bead garland.

CANDLEHOLDER WITH GLASS BEAD GARLAND

The large architectural fragment on the leather book repeats the corbel bookends.

ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENT ON A SHABBY LEATHER BOOK

How do you style your bookshelves?  Just books? A mix?  Do you have a theme?

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