While this house was begging for a few minor renovations when we moved in, it also had quite a bit of old home charm that we obviously wanted to keep. This book shelf in the upstairs hallway was one of the first things that charmed me when we toured the home, but we used it to store tools for the first month or so while we renovated the boys’ rooms.
We finished up their rooms a few weeks ago and then quickly painted the hallway before we had guests arrive last week. The tools are back in the garage and I finally had the opportunity to fill the shelves with something a little prettier.
When I first saw this corner bookcase in the upstairs hallway, I immediately began imagining what I’d use it for. Since it’s located right outside the boys’ rooms, I had initially thought about keeping their books here. Maybe a place they could nicely choose a bedtime story to read together without any fighting. A mother can dream, right? But we recently purchased two Expedit bookcases for their rooms and have more than enough storage for their books right now.
The Before:
So a couple weeks ago, I was cleaning up the shelves and decided to see if my Project Life albums fit. & they did! Hurray!
I only have two years (four full albums) currently finished, but by the end of this year I should have another 3 or 4 albums containing 2010 and 2014.
Never mind the spot we haven’t painted yet in the photo below…our staircase is in need of a very tall ladder to finish all the painting.
To fill in the extra space I added a few frames to the shelves as well. The first holds the back of Ephram’s first birthday invitation in it. I love all those photos from his first year and I really want to create one for Alwyn too. Another is a photo of Alwyn that I had displayed in his old room. And the third features a card from the Kiwi Edition which I had put in a frame for Valentine’s Day and just never ended up taking out.
On the opposing wall, in between the boys’ rooms and their bathroom, I have two frames hung – one for each of them – that I update every so often with what I’m currently loving about them. This is entirely inspired by Becky Higgins (and I would link to her blog post about it but it seems to be missing currently).
Overall, I just love that my Project Life albums are now displayed in a spot that the boys can see.
Where do you keep your family photo albums? Safely tucked away? Out in the open? I’d love to know.
