I Can’t Stop Thinking About the Bold Blue Bookshelves in This Eclectic Living Room Makeover

One of the first pieces of real furniture I bought when I moved into my current house was a bookcase — two bookcases, actually, since they came as a matching set from a local antique mall. The walnut veneer was a perfect match for my mid-century home, and my husband and I fought (gently) about whose office they’d get to live in before compromising and letting them occupy our living space. Four years later, I still love them! But they are also getting a little too crowded, with double rows of books on some shelves and books stacked on top, too. In other words: I need another way to store my books.

I’ve been looking through the Before & After archives to see how other homeowners have solved this problem so I could get some inspiration, and recently rediscovered an old favorite project: this eclectic living room redo with one of my favorite built-in bookshelf setups of all time.

The before of this living room looks like a lot of familiar befores: not terrible, but certainly very beige and boring. But the after? It’s like the visual representation of a cup of coffee — bold, energizing, and comforting all at once.

Lots of things make this living room great, but for me, the highlight is obviously the full wall of built-in bookshelves. Not only do they make room for tons of books, but there’s also varied height that makes it easy to display other art pieces (or, you know, corral oversized books that never fit quite right anywhere else). I love the arched tops, too, which somehow make the shelves (and the ceiling) look so much taller.

But the most striking element, of course, is the bold blue color. I would have thought a color this bold would be the only thing your eye would be able to see, but somehow it still lets the covers of the various books stand out. And really, shouldn’t books be the star of any bookshelf?

Check out the rest of the living room makeover here. It’s well worth it!

If you want to DIY your own built-ins, don’t forget to caulk the shelves before you paint  — it’s how the pros do it. Interested in taking a shortcut on the building? Try using IKEA BILLYs as the starting point.