5 Easy Home Decorating Ideas For Your Bookcase

Don't delegate your book case to just simply housing and storing those books. Use these quick, easy and frugal decorating ideas to give that bookcase the design attention it deserves. Make it a design accent in any room.

Decorating Idea 1: Paint

Painting your bookcase is a wonderful way to give it a fresh new look, create a focal point, or even make a small room appear larger!

To make the room appear larger, paint the bookcase the same color as the wall. To make your bookcase a central attraction, paint the back of the book case different colors in a uniform pattern, or add wall paper to add dimension.

Decorating Idea 2: Illuminate

Add easy to attach focused battery operated lights to the ceiling of one book shelf to highlight a shelf underneath. Or, install an electric picture light to the top of the bookcase to illuminate the entire book shelf arrangement.

Decorating Idea 3: Decorate

Don't limit your bookcase to just the display and storage of books. Break things up a bit by alternating groups of books with accent or decorative favorites. Add nicely framed family photo's to one shelf, decorative glass or a sculptured collectible to another.

Decorating Idea 4: Weed

Those tattered, outdated dusty editions of books you may never read again could be donated or tossed. Group the books you REALLY must keep by size color or shape.

Vertical arrangements are fine, but break them up not only with your decorative pieces but with some horizontal groupings as well. Size arrangements are more attractive then books of differing sizes mixed together.

Place the largest books at the bottom of the bookcase, the most attractive on the middle and the smallest at the top. Remove some of the paper sleeves for hard back distinction.

Decorating Idea 5: Hide

If you have books that just don't look good but you simply cannot part with them. Hide them behind your accessories, horizontal book arrangements or add some decorative boxes to the shelf to house them.

Decorative boxes can also be used to store little odds and ends that you want to keep on the bookcase for convenience but don't necessarily need to see. This could be your incoming mail, household keys, remote controls, etc.

Decorative boxes are not only wonderfully functional but delightfully decorative. Make your own to tie in the theme of the room with a decoupage DIY project or, visit a decorating store to find a unique, just for you look.

By incorporating these 5 simple ideas to your bookcase, it will become a star attraction in any room.

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Fireplace Mantle Decorating Ideas

The fireplace is the focus of a room and attracts a lot of attention. If you have a fireplace you might have decorated the mantle with a loadful of your favorite decoration pieces till the dust collects and the whole place looks quite overdone and eventually neglected. Instead of cluttering the place, you can go for a combination of selective pieces that go with the room décor, and you can always keep rotating the displays regularly.

While choosing the decoration pieces, make sure they are sized appropriately, neither too big nor too small for the mantle. Match them to the room décor and the color scheme of the room so that they don't look out of place. Make sure these items are non-inflammable if your fireplace is functional. Avoid books, kerosene oil lamps, wooden décor, etc. You can display a centerpiece on the mantel, which would be the focal point of the decoration scheme. This could be a piece of art, flowers in a vases or a mirror.

For creating a balance, arrange equally sized items in small groups. Don't arrange them all in a single row; instead go for the three dimensional look. This can be done by placing the centerpiece toward the front and other items toward the end of the mantle. Or arrange them in groups of threes in the form of a triangle. Display framed photos, decorative vases and pots, ceramics, royal bone china plates, etc. You can dress up your mantel with a mantel runner and decorate it seasonally with lights and glittery baubels during the winter holidays.

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