Crafting Your Bookshelf - Part III
Elevation
If you love the idea of crafting your book collection to something that pleases your eye and uplifts your spirits every time you walk by or pull a book from the shelf, then read on.
Part I of this three-part blog series discussed Functionality - a key component of any crafted bookshelf.
Part II discussed Beauty - a somewhat lost meaning to life, in my opinion, and certainly a joy enhancer.
How do you make your bookshelf Elevated? Well, the word has multiple definitions, including “to raise the spirits of” or “to improve morally, intellectually, or culturally” (source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary). I know I want to live and work in spaces that raise my spirits and stimulate my intellect. Here’s how I do it for myself and with my clients:
Integrate Basic Feng Shui Principles.
Where is the bookshelf actually placed in your home? And in the room? Have you ever thought about that for a minute? Switching up the location of your shelf can make all the difference. It can change a room from feeling like a storage unit to a welcoming library. If you need a starting point, try setting the shelf somewhere where it gets natural light, or where you can see it through the doorway. If you want to go deeper, use the Feng Shui Bagua as a guide to where the knowledge/wisdom area of the room/house is.
Set the scene. Take care of your senses. Want to know the life-hack to elevating a bookshelf? Include a seat and a light. Seat poofs work in almost any home/office. Choose a fun, inviting light. Candles, blankets, elements of nature, oh my! Elevate the surrounding space to allure you to go to there. It works like magic.
Go Top Shelf! My sister is a serious bibliophile - she has quite the collection. I was admiring one of her bookshelf setups one day, and realized she had intentionally placed her religious books on the top shelf, so they would be, you know, closer to God. I thought that was kind of brilliant. Place your most sacred, precious, or spiritual books on the top shelf. That will quite literally elevate how you craft your collection. You don’t have to take my word for it; try it and see how it feels.
A final note on crafting your shelf: how you do it is just as important as what you do. Do it when you’re in a good mood. Do it when you feel like being crafty. Set the mood with some música. Open a window. Give yourself permission to break it up and complete the project in chunks. Crafting a bookshelf is an act of pleasure.
I hope this blog series stimulated your thoughts and motivated you to craft a functional, beautiful, and elevated bookshelf. It’s something you’re going to look at almost every day of your life and use all the time, so why wouldn’t you want it to invoke joy?
If you have any questions, email me! I’d love to hear from you. onwardupwardorganizing@gmail.com.
Happy curating.
~Sara
