What colour for these living room bookshelves?

2 years ago

Do I just go traditional with white or switch it up? These are in the living room - colour on the walls is SW Alabaster and the floor is dark wood. Lots of natural light - the wall across from the bookshelves is brick. Thanks in advance!

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Comments (8)

cat_ky
2 years ago
Paint them to match your trim.
Sara Hill
Original Author
2 years ago
I'm nervous about them being a super bright white...but maybe that would look nice with the darker floor. Could I get away with the same colour as the walls? Alabaster? Then I thought about an accent color for the dark background.
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Hi sparkleivy- I like the blue color and together with the ivory beige it looks sophisticated. I would use the space underneath the TV for either a a table or closed storage. The type of closed storage depends on your needs, whether you need a cabinet or drawers or a file cabinet, but it should be attractive. I would suggest changing around how you have arranging the things on your shelves. Your flag deserves to be displayed with honor. I would purchase a display box for the American flag, they are made of wood with a glass front, and tuck in a dessicant packet to prevent mold or rot of the flag. Make sure you get the correct size box for your size flag. A burial flag is larger. Then put the flag on top of the book shelf. Put the airplane on top of the other bookshelf. Why are you displaying a book with the front facing out like that? Do you have a living room? Do you entertain? Should your liquor and glasses be in a bar piece in the living room or is that bookcase the bar piece?
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6 of one half dozen of another. Do you want the end result to look like your shelf is a 'built in' or added furniture? Either way is typical. Not sure about white looking cheap. Plenty of white out there. As long as you purchase a substantial piece white or black. Black would not be on my options, white or natural wood would be my debate.
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turtlexings24
2 years ago
From what I can tell, the actual current look is nice. Why make them look like cheap white Ikea shelves if they're real wood?
OhNat
2 years ago
That is not going to be an easy project. Especially if you are planning to do a contrasting color on the back panel. A professional outcome would likely require disassembling the shelves. You need to sand all of it carefully or the paint will scratch off as soon as you put all of those things back in it. And it should be sprayed, not brushed. It’s a beautiful shelving unit. I would try restyling the pieces that go in it before trying to paint it. If you really don’t like it, it’s probably easier to replace it with something else. But it looks like someone payed a pretty penny for it !
Sara Hill
Original Author
2 years ago
I appreciate the feedback but I'm definitely painting them! Looking for colour advice only as I know what I'm doing when it comes to painting.
palimpsest
2 years ago
I think I would paint them the wall color with an accent only in the niche.
OhNat
2 years ago
Well, you could paint it to match your trim and cut foamcore panels to fit into the back of the shelves. Apply peel and stick wallpaper to the panels. If you get tired of it just change out the wallpaper. If you do that, be sure to wrap the wallpaper around the edges of the foamcore for a finished look.
cat_ky
2 years ago
You could paint them to match your walls. I really think though, that they will stand out more if you use the trim color, unless, you really dont want them to stand out.

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What colour for these living room bookshelves?

Comments (8)

cat_ky

Sara Hill
Original Author

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turtlexings24

OhNat

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What colour for these living room bookshelves?

Comments (8)

cat_ky

Sara HillOriginal Author

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turtlexings24

OhNat

Sara HillOriginal Author

palimpsest

OhNat

cat_ky

COMPANY

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Sara Hill
Original Author

Sara Hill
Original Author