March Favorites

It is not uncommon for people who are activists to wonder what they would do with their lives if they didnt feel called by some force greater than ourselves to try to change the world. Ive tossed around a lot of answers to that question, but after becoming a home owner, I think I know the answer. I love, love, love power tools and interior design. Hopping from apartments to apartments never let me do much with my love for either. But now my love can flourish, and it has! For March I present to you my library makeover!

Before photos

Here are the before photos of an empty room, layered in greys. I know a lot of people truly dislike the greys, but it’s such a good way to start. I feel like I can see the potential so easily when starting here.

Those of you who have been following me for awhile, know that I painted this room a gorgeous shade of teal soon after we moved in. I put in pretty open shelf bookcases, and placed a yellow love seat under the window. It was lovely. Until my book collection started to outgrow those “cute” bookcases. In just two years, I was right back to having piles of books all over the place, just like I did when living in an apartment. I had done a good job starting my library project, but it was time to take it up a notch.

After two weeks of work, my library has been transformed to this:

After photos

Im so in love, and I just want to share a few of my favorite things about this room!

THE PAINT: I love this color called Antigua by Behr. It is dark and moody on cloudy days, but on sunny days it’s bright and alive. Truly delicious color.

THE SHELVES: Gotta love some Billy shelves, right?! Ikea came through along with the blog posts of many a DIY woman who offered fantastic guides for painting Ikea furniture. I got the extenders, so that my shelves would almost touch the ceiling.

THE CABINET: I love anything that resembles an apothecary cabinet. This brown apothecary style cabinet features white porcelain knobs and has special meaning to me because it was salvaged from the college where I received my Masters degree in social justice. The college had to close, but thanks to Woodward Throwbacks, I have a beautiful piece of the college in my home.

The single thing I hated most in this room was the boob ceiling light. It was so ugly but I wasn’t ready to call an electrician to install something sexier. My solution was at Ikea. This gorgeous beige weaved shade had so much texture, I knew it would be perfect for this library. And it was so easy to simply cover the boob light instead of replacing it!

Since the white book shelf is open to another room, I did my best to fill up each square as best I could. Artificial plants are coming through for your girl on that front. But I realized it would also be a great place to hold some of the smaller momentos I hold dear. This little square holds an old school tape recorder. Inside is a tape of my great grandmother sharing about her childhood. Cue tears.

I love a clear vase, especially ones from The Dollar Tree, but I always get stuck when deciding how to fill them. Rocks? Moss? Acorns? But then I had a thought. Since this is a library, could I find alphabet beads? I absolutely love how they turned out.

In addition to collecting Black History Americana, I also love finding the treasures that come from my own family. Here is a photo of a shadowbox that I filled with my grandmothers school report cards from the 1940’s. My uncle found these a couple years ago and graciously gave them to me. Im obsessed.

So, there you have it. A new place to read and write and daydream. If you could design a room just for you to come back to yourself, what would it be?

Stay wild, holy, and free

Austin