A couple of weeks back we added the Ikea Expedit bookcase to our living room to create more storage for DVDs and books and hey it adds interest in our living room. Before I start filling the bookcase with books, I had to find some inspiration & styling tips.

I love the bookcases below, the dark wood of the bookcases sets off the color of the bookcase spines in such a pretty way.

{ via here }

I also love this white bookcase, the owner filled the bookcase with books, pictures, candle holders and more. It create the perfect visaul interest behind the two charis.

{ via flickr }

The standout feature for me for the bookcase is the greenback ground it makes all the books & items really pop.

{ via decorpad }

Style Like a Pro:

Here are some bookcase styling tips from one of my favorite shelter magazines, Style at Home & Martha Stewart Living

1. Group books with the same color same color spine on a shelf

2. Stack books horizontally and vertically, its practical and creates a more dynamic display

3. Paint the back of your bookcase a vibrant color, or just line them with colorful paper to make the bookcase pop.

4. Don't be afraid to mix and match hardcover and softcover books

5. Layer in frames, vases and objects of varying textures to add visual interest on the shelf's with your books and ditch the boring bookends

6. Don't cram your books in, open space on bookcase help balance the overlook.

7. Books end to end look best on the bottom shelf

8. Group books together by theme

Here are a few Chic Little House tips, I've picked up along the way. Save money by shopping thrift stores for interesting reads on the cheap { read more about it here } remove the book covers and show off the colorful spines. Most importantly fill the shelves with books to love to read, I think a bookcase should be a personal relfection of your personalty.

Do you have any tips for styling a bookshelves?

I recently tackled some organizing projects in our bedroom. Now that our dresser has been updated I wanted to make sure the top of the dresser stays nice and tidy { free of perfume and makeup }. I decided to take a trip to Target, and see if I could find a simple inexpensive storage solution. I came across some clear acrylic storage compartments that fit perfectly in my top drawer. I'm now able to keep my nail polish, makeup, perfume and other beauty items organized in my top drawer. I lined the bottom of the drawer with simple blue and white striped scrap booking paper I picked up from Micheal's for $ .69 cents each { I got the idea from the clever YLH } I just used double sided tape to keep the paper attached to the bottom dresser, since the items on the paper will stay stationary. Here's a look inside my top drawer.

I used three clear acrylic bins for the inside of the drawer. The middle bin is the largest and cost $ 4.99 and the two small bins were $ 2.99 each. A great affordable way to keep my beauty items organized.

While organizing my top drawer, I also got rid of a much of 'stuff' that I no longer use - that's my favorite part of organizing pairing down and keep what you really use.

Next up, tacking on our closet. Last year we updated our simple one bar closet with a closet system for Closet maid. First we re-moved the old shelf and bar and filled some holes. After we removed the old shelf there was a huge strip of pink behind the old top shelf supports. I painted the interior of the closet an 'Oops Paint color' . Next we got to work installing our closet system, because our closet is really small only 5 feet wide { a New York apartment size closet, in a California rancher } We had to customize the closet system even more to fit our needs, below is a typical closet size according to Closet Maid.

To make use of every inch of space in our tiny closet, we installed a tall bar (that would normally be a shelf) as a hanger for my dresses. Then we installed two long shelf's to hold the rest of our clothes. The very top shelf does double duty holder our shirts and storing my 'not in use purses' . The bottom shelf holds skirts and pants. After installing our new closet system, we got busy planning our wedding and the closet become a huge mess.

I spent an evening organizing the closet 'for real this time'. I don't have any before pics, but just picture a tiny closet with clothes everywhere! After going though all our clothes and determining which clothes we should donate, keep in our on dresser and keep in under bed storage. Our tiny clsoet already feels much larger. I also added storage bins in our closet to keep misc items and additional storage bins with lids for seasonal shirts etc. In addition to adding storage bins, I've been slowly updating our closet with flocked clothes hangers.

Here's our tiny, yet organized closet.

I picked up the storage bings from Lowes, the larger square bings with the pulls were $ 4.99 and smaller bins in the middle were only $ 2.99.

The biggest thing in our closet, I wanted to tackle were my shoes. I like most ladies, I love shoes and don't have nearly enough space from them. But I can came up with a solution that works for me. I bought clear plastic containers from the dollar tree to store and stack my shoes on the bottom of the closet. I still have more clear plastic containers to buy, but feel I'm making huge progress. Another plus for me using storage bins, I can see the pair of shoes I want to wear

I also decided to only keep 'in season shoes' in the closet. Right now all my Spring & Summer shoes are in the closet and all my Fall & Winter shoes on in under bed storage. This frees up a huge amount of space and its easier for my to find my spring and summer shoes.

I have two pairs of shoes that won't be in storage bins, my wedding shoes and another fab pair I bought for our honeymoon.