Bookshelf Tour

When it comes to staying organized, I have a little more trouble with entropy than the average girl.  I think that's why I love minimalist decorative styles so much.  I feel most relaxed in a room that has less objects in it and that has a specific place where each of those objects belongs.  It makes me feel like there's room to breath.

In my Colorado home, my favorite bookshelf is the one in my bedroom because it's the perfect combination of storage and display space and it's not overly full.

Let's go on a tour, starting at the top left shelf and moving down:

1.  A few decorative keepsakes including a snow globe from Aspen and a sketch that I bought on the street in Florence, Italy.

2.  A digital picture frame.  These are awesome because you can display a whole bunch of pictures but only take up the space of one.

3.  A really big dictionary and Bartlett's Familiar Quotations.  I majored in English in college and I love words.

4.  My mom's old typewriter.  There's a quote from Great Gatsby taped to it because it just might be the prettiest piece of prose ever.

5.  A box full of old pictures and a collection of old magazines.  I love holding onto old pictures, but they can clutter up my room so fast if I'm not careful, so I like having this nice wooden box to contain them.

Now for the middle row, starting at the top:

6. Two old programs from shows that I skated in and a nail polish rainbow.  I have tons of keepsakes from all the shows that I've done, so I'm proud of myself for only picking two programs and keeping the rest in a box in my closet.  That way I can change them out every once in a while and my whole room doesn't become an homage to my life in ice shows.

7.  This shelf is my favorite because it stands for a huge triumph over messiness.  In the bigger of those pink bags is my ridiculously large collection of show makeup, and the smaller bag contains all the bottles of nail polish that didn't fit in the rainbow on the shelf above it.  I just have way too much of both things to display them all without it looking overwhelming.

8.  This is the little desk where I do my day-to-day makeup.  I try to keep it very minimal.  Also isn't that mirror fun?  It lights up.

Moving on to the right side, starting at the top again:

9.  My headbands are wrapped around a mason jar with more hair accessories inside it, and next to that is a fun picture of my friend Liz that I took back in college.

10.  Here I have my necklaces hanging on a jewelry tree and my bracelets are inside a bowl that I won at a skating competition.  Just like my ice show paraphernalia, I have a ridiculous amount of mementos from my competitive skating days, so I enjoy displaying one (useful) item from that era and keeping the rest out of sight.

11.  This shelf is for my fancier jewelry, most of which I keep in their original boxes inside the pink bag and my super old pink jewelry box from when I was a little girl.  I like to keep a couple of sparkly things on display here because I like to look at them, but only a couple.

12.  My blogging equipment lives here.  There's my camera, lenses, tripod, and notebooks.  I like to keep them visible so I'll remember to use them.

13.  This shelf has some photo books on it.  I have a lot of photos!

And yes, that is a pair of cowboy boots on the floor next to the bookshelf.  =)

Thanks for coming on my bookshelf tour with me!  Can you tell that the major theme here is storage, storage, storage?  That way all the pretty things don't get lost in the clutter.

How do you keep yourself organized?
xoxo
Laura