The Tale of The Top Shelf

Once upon a time a girl took a warm, cozy afternoon nap. Suddenly, she was stirred and shaken from her sleep with a vision.

This is The Tale of The Top Shelf.

The agenda for my apartment decor, from the very start, has been a smoky Park Avenue vibe. I knew I was overdue to start pulling my communal space (the living room) together. Did I want a gallery wall? No. A mirror? Eh. Storage space? Hell yes. The dresser drawer I use in my living room is filled with books, objects, palo Santo sticks and honestly … tons of junk. That piece of furniture was becoming a bad feng shui zone that was weighing heavily over me. The items tucked away in the dresser drawers needed to come out to live, and contribute to the essence of my space. The grand vision that woke me up from my nap? A giant faux-fancy bookcase.

I hopped out of bed, got out my measuring tape, and opened the Pinterest app and one of my favorite coffee table books, “Living in Provence” to guide me creatively. Once I gained an understanding of the foundation of the shelves, I opened Ikea and ordered my VERY FIRST (??) piece of furniture from the Swedes ever!

Once I treated and painted the Ikea wood, and assembled the shelves (all by myself, whew Chile). I spent MANY weeks simply pondering the erected shelves and mentally running through ideas of how to create the custom facade of my dreams. This process looked like me springing up every single morning before my dog woke up, making a cup of coffee, letting sunlight in, and just staring at the unmounted shelves.

I considered about six different ideas, and one day I randomly came across the most exquisite millwork on a shelf on the pages of House and Garden UK. The millwork I aimed to replicate was from the Chelsea mansion of Penny Morrison; for me, this was the one. English decor informs a lot of my personal and professional design taste. English decor successfully creates a sense of invitation, warmth and individuality with traditional design cornerstones.

With help from my friend Adeola (a mathematical genius + all around great person) and a quick task rabbit carpenter booking, the facade of the bookshelves were created with pieces of wood that I secured from Home Depot (I have a LONG story about this, but … in another post). There’s one last round of carpentry edits and touch ups that need to be made to the shelves, you may be able to spot the small quirks, but I am too proud and exhausted to not share. Such incredible energy and expertise came together to make this possible.

I lost sleep during this process and then eventually got sick (during the painting and the carpentry, I was going through it). However, in the end, it was all so worth it. In that time I had a delivery of a pair of spindle chairs that I had been coveting for almost a year. Combined with the complete shelves, a lit candle and a mug of tea, I’ve created the coziest reading environment on this side of daylight’s saving.