show me the shelves

i just put up a bunch of shelves this weekened. and i'm having trouble finding crap to put on them too. i don't have any pics though.

Our shelves are full of records and books:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/133/412629589_808d922046_o.jpg

This is almost all the records and about 1/4 of the books (double-shelved).

We are getting 2 of similar shelves that are 5x5 instead of 4x4 to use as a room divider/clothes storage in our new place. Records will go in the bottom 40 cubes and translucent bins full of socks, tshirts and sweaters will go in the top 10.

I live in a shoebox. I have shelves stacked on top of shelves, and stacked on top of, for example, my dresser. I also have boxes of crap that can't fit on shelves shoved under the bed, etc.

This is a large part of why I want a new place to live.

Jaq -

Those look great. Ours go all the way to the ceiling and begin at the floor and it is in an historic building with very high ceilings. I just don't know how to fill 'em up!

We have filled some of them in with LP's and dedicated one shelf to our little 45 boxes we collect. After books and movies and stuff, I am at a loss.

We do have a lot of cute little toys and things, but how can you display those and it not look a mess?

More pics, please! - heather nijoli

Jaq - it must be a pain in the ass getting an accurate needle drop with your turntable way up there!

Oily -
That is what we just came from so we are hoping to be organized and have a pretty place. I don't think this is going to be easy, since our boxes are packed so badly. poor lil roxymuzak helped us pack and i am sure she had a time sorting through our junk. we now have boxes that consist of a silly combos like a shoe, some hot sauce, postcards, a feather boa and a homer simpson doll. argh!

toy soldiers!

http://www.sdsoldiers.com/Mvc-GALLOWS.jpg

That is an insane amount of LPs. I think our combined collection comprises about two of those cubes.

we now have boxes that consist of a silly combos like a shoe, some hot sauce, postcards, a feather boa and a homer simpson doll.

Clearly, you have a future in publicly funded visual art!

Too true Oilyrags! That was above eye-level for me, so I never even tried. The cats left it alone though. Now, it's down on a more standard "entertainment center" kind of thing, about 3 ft high, and they like to sit on the cover and watch things go 'round :(

Ms. Miz, what's worse is that we have packed and moved those things 8 times in 7 years, and he keeps buying more. They all got packed up over the weekend - 85 boxes of 'em (12.5x12.5x6), weighing about 35 lbs each.

Clearly time to digitize.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/WallOfDeathColor.jpg

The wall of death.

oh, those look very cool & likely what we will do. incorporate toys and stuff into our books, records, etc.

here are the shelves (partially) and we can add more shelves or space them differently. this pic only shows part of them...

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c389/nijoli/newplace2.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c389/nijoli/newplace.jpg

That is a super-fun wall, RH, esp with those colors!! But I truly truly hope that those shelf supports are anchored into the framing studs....

I like the raised kitchen.

Oh yes, definitely in studs. I like the DIY/adjustable nature of strips/brackets/cheap pine shelving. I've put them up in my old office, my new office, my daughter's room and my wife's study. Longer brackets and wider boards if LP space is needed, adjustable shelf heights for lots of short CD shelves, whatever is needed.

whoa your place looks rad. all those shelves are like a dream to me

i do know that home decorating guy who's on oprah a lot (ah, my oprah watching days i kinda miss you) - nate? used to do a lot with bookshelves that involved, seriously, NO books - it was all pretty minimal, like, a candle beside a tasteful picture frame

i like the bright and shiny route myself. but minimal is more calming, i guess. okay but what i wld do is give each shelf a theme and decorate/fill according to that. e.g., boring themes like bills, magazines, cards people gave us, and exciting themes like stuffed owls, broken electronic equipment i will one day fix, all the post-it notes i ever wrote and for some reason saved, etc etc!

i guess you could also take shelves out and hang a picture or put a lamp or plant in there instead too

ni jo leee - your place looks amazing! You could just ignore that they are shelves and hang art/photos at the back, use the shelf above to hold clip lights, etc.

hahaha! xpost

http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sctm/v71/240/42/607830128/n607830128_106858

I saw a show on HGTV recently where a guy had a bunch of shelves housing his collection of vintage Mae West hot water bottles. This might be a good idea.

I only have three Mae West hot water bottles, though, so that is out.

Robyn/Jaq/All- Thanks for compliments/ideas. I especially like the "each shelf has a theme" idea and the one about hanging a big picture within the shelf. There truly is a ton of wall space behind them.

Fritz- i want to see your picture but it isn't showing up. repost?

p.s. There are two entire wall shelevs not shown in the pics above!

aw. i found this on a google search and i love it:

http://img.inkfrog.com/pix/bucketscrap23/bl20.jpg

ni jo. . .I'd be very impressed if you actually had those water bottles.

I'm determined to get one now if only b/c I'm a bitch and don't want that dude bogarting the world's supply of Mae West hot water bottles.

it was a joke, but i would like one. i had no idea they were even a water bottle OPTION.

early 20th century merchandising options. Nobody had invented fruit roll-ups or action figures yet.

I am trying to get ideas of how to creatively fill the space an not make it junky lookin'

hang drapes over the shelves.

And then hold puppet shows.

booze

Booze is not a bad idea, but we have an awesome 1940's liquor cabinet.

I am thinking: toy section, record section, book section, photos section, maybe a plant or two, some 60's decorative crap and some sock monkeys and then fill in spaces with giant art.

Ask all your friends to decorate one shelf each as they see fit.
You'll end up living in an eclectic hell, of course.

Apply for an HGTV "Design on a Dime" show. They'll come in and make you all kinds of shit.

mirrors. paint each shelf space a different color. wine storage.

http://media0.dropshots.com/photos/241825/20070828/075027.jpg

paint each shelf space a different color.

This sounds awesome.

Also subscribe to New Yorker and you could fill them up quickly.

fritz are those the expedit ikea shelves? LP collection FITE! :D

expedit, yep! love it. love the kiddo more, obv.

Seeing those pics, I think I just came. One of my lifelong dreams is having wall-to-wall shelves. Alas, at the moment it's not doable. But I do plan on having it done one fine day.

Apply for an HGTV "Design on a Dime" show. They'll come in and make you all kinds of shit.

I was already on DIY to the Rescue. I think DIY television audiences will be sick of my face if I am approved to be on another one.

I do like the "paint each one a different color" but I may do that with fancy paper tacked up inside a few of them or something.

fancy paper or gorgeous fabric

I was already on DIY to the Rescue.

Haha, that's awesome! I wish I got DIY.

my shelves are ikea, but they are LERBERG, not billy or any of the other "welcome to your twenties, here's your membership card" ones. i'll post a picture later, maybe.

Here are pics from my DIY. It was called "Stairway to Heather" and they gave us a spiral staircase, sunroom and craft room downstairs.

that is me in the jeans:

http://img.diynetwork.com/DIY/2006/09/25/dttr601_open_e.jpg
http://img.diynetwork.com/DIY/2006/09/25/dttr601_1fa_e.jpg
http://img.diynetwork.com/DIY/2006/09/25/dttr601_1fd_e.jpg

Too bad the asshole I was seeing at the time decided to dump me on his birthday vacation we went on together. On a private island in paradise. Jerk face. Needless to say, I don't live in that house anymore.

Now back to shelf talk!

I am envious. I want to be on an home improvement show.

it was sort of lame, although they seriously increased the value of our home.

they told us what to say and it was really orchestrated.

I made some record bowls last night out of cracked records that no longer played in order to fill some space. There seriously is still three whole wall shelves with nothing on them.

Maybe I should start a "SEND ME A BOOK" thread in order to fill these shelves up quick!