TheMcWoods

Storage is a major problem in our little flat so we're also on the look out for (cheap) ways to store all of our things.

I love Michael Penney's blog at House and Home and the pictures of his house are fantastic. I think his place looks stylish yet accessible. What really caught my eye were his customized Ikea Billy bookcases.




Some better shots of the bookcases are on the video.

At less than £90 for all three bookcases, we decided that a trip to Ikea was worth our time and effort. Lee kindly drove me to Ikea on my birthday and valiantly managed to fit 3 large Billy bookcases in our not-so-large car. (I bought him a hotdog and some ice cream when he started to look a bit crusty - a common occurrence when men spend too much time in Ikea I'm told).

We've set the Billys up and I'm pretty happy with how they look. And goodness knows, we can store a whole bunch of our stuff on them! I'm definitely not skilled in curating or styling bookcases, but I do rather enjoy playing around with where things go.





We still haven't added the MDF trim (a la Michael Penney) to the edges and I'm not sure if we will. I'm a bit worried that if we ever move these suckers that removing MDF that has been nailed to the front would completely ruin the bookcases. We'll see how energetic we feel...

My colleague brought this bunch of Knobs (ha ha) into work after a trip down to Dorset, and I knew that I just had to knick the tin. Sorry but the word knobs just makes me laugh :)



I'm gradually adding to my collection of Penguin Classics. The whole collection is just gorgeous (via Design Sponge).



I plan to buy one of the collection every few months or so. Little Women is definitely next on the list! I don't plan on owning the whole collection as there are quite a few titles that (1) I don't like (Tess of the d'Ubervilles - ruined by Grade 11 English) or (2) that I have no real interest in reading (Homer's Odyssey). They're just so pretty together though, don't you think?



I've also added my little DIY bus blind to the bookcase. I do like the look of bus blinds but have had a hard time finding one I like that isn't over £100. This isn't a copy of a real bus blind per se but it does have some of the stops that the Edinburgh airport bus makes. Lee and I spent a lot of time on this bus as we flew back and forth to Birmingham when we first started dating. I may blow it up to a larger size when I find the cash and somewhere that can actually print large scale posters.

Via AT

Carrie - if you look carefully, can you see Ganesha? :)