New construction homes can sometimes have a “cookie cutter” feel. Your home (if you make no upgrades) could essentially look identical to your neighbors down the street unless you make it a point to think outside the box. I knew from the start that what was designated as our formal living room needed to be transformed into a unique, creative yet functional space. I wanted it to have a sophisticated feel but also relaxing, a space my husband and I could go to decompress, talk about our day all while having a nice cocktail. I had a bunch of books packed away in boxes with no real place to showcase them, after rummaging through Pinterest for inspiration I came across the idea of a reading room. I didn’t want pre-cut shelves for this room, I wanted the raw, edgy look of real wood because I felt it would provide the home with the character we desired. We decided the shelves should be wall to wall which would allow us to store the books we already had and add more books to the shelves in the future. The long shelves also allowed me to bring in quirky decor pieces that I otherwise wouldn’t use around the other parts of our home. After measuring for what seemed hours we bought our measurements to our local Home Depot, we got the wood cut and decided on a dark walnut stain by Minwax. We initially wanted the shelves to be free floating, however we found these amazing decorative brackets that added something special to the shelves. My husband, Torey did most of the heavy lifting, drilling and getting the shelves placed on the walls. The end result was more than we could have dreamed of. I decided to do 4 individual chairs in this room, it provided a more cozy look to me and honestly was more cost effective than buying a sofa or love seat. You’ll soon notice that Im a neutral girl, so it was only right that I selected the Clarinda accent chair in cream. Its a beautiful chair yet simple enough to add decorative pillows of any shade to spice thing ups and pull the room together. Because I wanted the shelves to be the focal point of the room, I choose a delicate coffee table from Pier 1 and added an antique monopoly board that we actually play with our oldest daughter Parker. Overall, the reading room is probably my favorite room in the house so far, it came out amazing and I get so many compliments on it. The shelves are the highlight of the room and prove that DIY projects can be very rewarding. We still have something special that we want to add to this room and will walk you through that whole process when the time comes. Check out our reading room at different stages below:
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