Shelving Inspiration

Last night as all our friends were over eating like it was Thanksgiving and watching Dexter I could not stop obsessing (in my head) about the built-in shelves on either side of our fireplace.

I know. I'm a little bit crazy.

This is not how the mantle is arranged right now but I wanted to give you a photo for context.


However, we do have some really neat things on them now.


I just feel like all these neat things are overshadowed by clutter.

So today I gathered some inspiration photos.

via Desire to Inspire.
I love the minimal color palette here.


This is the same shape as our built ins. Though, it's a little busy for my taste.


via A Merry Mishap
This is nice. It looks functional and unpretentious. There is a nice balance of books (organized in stacks by color) and little precious things.

It also doesn't help that I don't have my fireplace mantle figured out yet - being the centerpiece of the two built ins.