Client Story: DeCluttered Bookcases

BEFORE:

This client is putting her house on the market and wanted me to de-clutter and stage her home for sale. This is the bookcase in the upstairs den. The family has lived in this house for more than ten years and in that time, these bookcases have become the catch-all for clutter and collectables.

GETTING STARTED:

Actually, the bookcases didn't look that bad, they just needed to be streamlined and de-cluttered. I started out by taking everything off the shelves so I could work with a clean slate.

Then, starting in the lower, right hand corner, I began to replace the books and accessories in a manner that was easier for the eye to follow. This is a rather large room and the bookcases stretch the entire length of one wall. Because of this, we decided that fewer, larger accessories would be on a more appropriate scale than lots of smaller accessories.

The biggest thing to keep in mind when organizing bookcases is that the binding of the books creates a lot of color, so by organizing them in a the way that is pleasing to the eye, you eliminate that chaotic feeling. To help with symmetry and flow, break up the books by adding accessories, plants and photos.

AFTER:





Tip: Not all of your books need to be stored side-by-side. It helps to break up the monotony by stacking some of them on their side.

This room looks a lot like a library in an English country home. The homeowner has it furnished with comfortable leather sofas and it's wood-paneled...so cozy! Oftentimes, in libraries, artwork is hung from the bookcase because of the lack of actual wall-space. In keeping with the spirit of the English country home, we opted to hang this clock from the client's bookcase.

Here, it serves two purposes...one decorative and one practical. Decorative, because it helps break up the expanse of books on the wall and practical because the homeowner wanted a clock on this wall that could be seen easily from across the room.

As you can see, we eliminated the cluttered look of these bookcases while still finding plenty of room to store the client's collection of books.

Cost for this project: $0. We used only accessories that the homeowner already had.
Estimated time to complete this project: Approximately 3 hours
Degree of Difficulty: On a scale from 1 to 10, this project was a 3.