There’s nothing better than a bookcase to me. Piling it full of books that hold so many memories and adventures, and then adding in your personal, decorative touches. They just make me so happy. If I could, I would have a library with floor to ceiling bookcases. Maybe even throw in a ladder. But it would be bright, inviting, and cozy, not those dark, wood-paneled types. So dreams aside, I was able to actually take that vision and funnel it into one of my bookcases, specifically the one in the Mego Cave. This is what it was looking like before I got my paws on it.

This bookcase is very dear to me, since it is a hand-me-down from my mom. Even though red wasn’t really in my room’s color scheme, I had a semi-hard time painting it since Mom bought it red and it fit in so well with her cozy, country decorating. Fortunately, I knew it did not matter to her if I painted it or not, so one weekend I attacked it with a paintbrush, over and over again. It took countless coats…literally…I lost track. I think it was four or five. I could have gone the priming way, but with white paint I didn’t deem it necessary. I was rethinking that at coat countless. Here it is in its bright white glory.

Now why did I go white? I thought that all the bright, decorative items in the bookcase were getting lost in the dark color. I tend to keep bookcases pretty busy inside, because I need them to be functional, not just pretty. I thought about doing a contrasting color in the background or putting decorative paper in there, and I still might, but I thought I would just give it a try with the pure white at first. And after looking at it a while, I still don’t know if I should go with a different background or stay white. I will live with it a while and let you know!

Since there are so many special items in the bookcase, I thought I would give you a close-up look at some of them.

On the top, I have my two favorite books of all time: Gone with the Wind and its sequel Scarlett (because I can’t live with an unhappy ending). Can you tell I love those books, with the framed picture up there, too? Speaking of my Mom, we redecorated my room in high school with a Gone with the Wind theme. It’s fun to mix some of that into my grown-up house now. Also, that vase was a wedding present from my Dad and his wife.

The next shelf down holds another collection of my favorite books: the Jane Austen collection. This collection is actually “textbooks” in the loosest terms, since I had to buy this collection for my Jane Austen class in college. Yup, pretty much the only books I kept from college. The picture is one that Eric took, printed, framed, and sent to me in college while we were dating. Aww, I just love him! The tennis ball is actually signed by Andre Agassi and Stefi Graf. I organized an event at my last job where they were the keynote speakers. Then the picture albums are one for each year of college.

Continuing down the bookshelves, this one houses some travel items. First of all, we travel into Harry Potter land (I jumped on this bandwagon way late but am so glad I did!). The item holding up those books is a jade piece from China. It is actually four carved spheres that are all encased together. They are hand carved out from one piece and each sphere represents a member of your family. It is one of my favorite pieces I bought in China. The nesting dolls are also from China; the yellow card is a fun one from my sister (it says “Masquerading as a normal person day after day is exhausting.”); and the Chinese box is one of our favors from our wedding that I kept.

This shelf is pretty book heavy, since I wanted to fit so many actual books in there. It holds many favorites, and one that I even made myself. The one on the left is the photo book that I did as my final in Photojournalism in college. I’m pretty proud of it!

The final shelf holds some of the bigger items, including my scrapbooks of my trips overseas and some other memorabilia from my trips. The Abe Lincoln penny holder is something that I remember growing up with, so I was so happy to be gifted that from my parents for my home!

So there it is, my little bookcase overhaul! What do you think? Should it stay white all over or should I put in a background of either a contrasting paint color or decorative paper? I am pretty happy with it as is right now. The white really brightens up the space, which is nice, since you can see it from the kitchen. It keeps catching my eye in its gleaming whiteness (haha, kind of like me as a pale skinned redhead!).