Gold VITTSJO Bookcase
Ever since the day that we moved into our house, a little over a year ago, and we plopped our giant IKEA mirror into a corner in the living room, I’ve stared at that little corner on a near daily basis and cursed it for looking so awkward, empty, and just generally ugly.
We weren’t really sure how to handle the awkward space behind our couch, but we knew that throwing a mirror against the wall and calling it a day definitely wasn’t part of the plan. After a year of living here, the only thing we knew for sure this corner was good for was our Christmas tree.
Well, we finally recently hit our boiling point with this corner of the room, and we just couldn’t take how empty and strange it was looking anymore, and since it’s not socially acceptable to leave your Christmas tree out all year long (boo!) – we had to do something about it. Luckily, we had just the thing in mind, as we had been admiring/drooling over Ikea’s line of VITTSJÖ bookcases for a while – they’re simple, cheap (only $70!), and just so happen to be exactly the right size for our corner.
So, off to Ikea we went! We decided that the black color didn’t fit in very well with the rest of our room, so we decided to spray paint the bookcase gold. I love how the color plays so nicely with our curtains and the wall color, and it fills the space perfectly.
I definitely still have some work to do in the styling department, but it wasn’t until we actually got this guy in place that we realized we really don’t have a ton of extra trinkets or tchotchkes laying around the house to decorate with – I guess that’s going to have to change soon!
For now, I just tossed a few random things on the shelves for the purpose of showing you how it looks in the room, but I’m sure the look of the bookcase will constantly be evolving as we add to it and switch it up.
I’m so happy to finally have something a bit more substantial and useful in this corner – it no longer feels like a waste of space to me! And, if you’re wondering where the mirror went, it has found a new home in our bedroom for now – but it’ll probably migrate to about seven different places before it finds a permanent landing spot!
Do you have any weird spaces in your house that you don’t know how to fill up? What do you love to fill your bookcases with? I obviously am in need of some ideas for mine!
I love the new bookcase! I am extraordinarily jealous of your proximity to an Ikea, let me tell you. I have a large bookcase that arches over my bed in my parents’ house that I am in the process of reorganizing. So far, I have books on a few shelves, but mostly trinkets, and memorabilia (there may or may not be an entire maroon and white shelf for my alma mater (Mississippi State) and my grandfather’s (Texas A&M). Apparently, I have an odds and ends weakness. One way I like to help fill up shelves though is using small (but interesting) picture frames. I think photos of family and friends helps personalize it, but with the right frames, it doesn’t make it any less decorative either. 🙂
The shelves look wonderful!!!! And I am very sorry about your elephant 🙁
Also- where did you get those curtains? They are EXACTLY what we want for our living room!!!!
Thanks! 🙂 I made the curtains – I got the fabric online from Tonic Living!
I love the way the rainbow books worked out!
1 – the bookcase looks awesome, and a perfect fit for that spot in the room!
2 – I’m really sad about the elephant too. 🙁 Poor little dude.
Looks great in that color – love that Ikea hack! Sorry about your elephant – hate when stuff like that happens!
It’s perfect!! I love the row of colored books on the bottom. The whole thing is so bright and cheery and really works well there. The pictures look really nice too!
LOVE!! I would so do this, but with a little one squirming around, I don’t think I should introduce more bookcases or glass. But that said. I am super jealous. I love what you did!
Love the new space (but I want the mirror for me now). A couple chairs and small table behind the couch facing the window for coffee and reading maybe?
So sorry about your elephant. Poor lil guy. I hope you can save him some how. I like the corner a lot now!
Ummmmmmmm. Don’t be mad at me when I totally copy this, okay?
OOOH! I’m so glad someone I know did this! I’ll definitely be hitting up my own Vittsjo with gold spray paint when we move! Yours looks AWESOME.
Um… books? Our bookshelves are definitely filled with books.
http://rycrafty.com/2011/08/13/our-biggest-wedding-present/
There’s a few photos in that post, but they’re in the background of just about every photo I take in my house, as we’ve got 5 big ones and a few smaller ones.
I have to admit, I find a house without books a little empty and sad – glad to see a few down there at the bottom of the bookcase!
Oh, we have a TON of books upstairs in our workout room in a different bookcase – I just don’t display them all!
I love the shelf, and your styling too! We have an IKEA bookshelf that I tried to style, but it now has books double-stacked on almost every shelf, so it’s not the prettiest anymore.
Sad day for the elephant! I love the improvement on the corner though. You guys did a great job with it
The gold looks great. I especially love the book styling on the bottom, such pretty colors!
I love it!! Also a little jealous of your styling skills! I think I need to buy more pretty books. The only ones I have are cheesy crime novel paperbacks and photography books (which tend to all be black, which is not super cute). Ah well.
Also– YES. We have a super awkward large nook off to the side of the “man cave” which I don’t know if I’ve ever shown on my blog because there is nothing there but some rock band drums and some random stuff like boxes and white boards lol. It was intended to be a bar area, but my husband doesn’t drink so having the builder put a bar there seemed dumb. We hope eventually it might be a poker area? But poker tables are SO EXPENSIVE so for now it sits bare, sad, and empty.
I’ve never been a big fan of gold, but I am really loving this! Can’t wait to see how the styling evolves over time.
Awesome! I love how a simple addition can change the whole look of a sad corner. Great job! (P.S. Sorry about the elephant casualty!)