3Rs: Rearranging, Reusing, Rejoicing

I'm sure you've all heard of the new 3Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle. Mine involve reusing, but what makes it fun is rearraning, which leads to rejoicing.

Behold, my fireplace wall:

Okay, so it's not completely finished, but I've made progress. The bookshelf on the left is from the basement. Down there, it held books, scrapbooks, and magazines. Now it is in my living room and holds scrapbooks and a lamp. I have actually put a basket thingy in the second shelf and moved two bulldog figurines to the first shelf. In the center of my mantle, I put a statue and two small votive candles. The cabinet to the right of the fireplace will eventually be replaced with the matching bookcase from the basement, but until I get my CD/DVD storage books, I can't do anything just yet. Hopefully this weekend.

One of the things I need to get used to as I declutter are the empty flat surfaces. In the past, I was excited when I had a flat surface because then I could clutter it up with figurines, pictures and candles. But having gotten rid of quite a few books, I now have more surface area, especially in the bookshelves, and I don't have much to put there. I am not one for putting photos up all over the place; I'd rather scrapbook them instead. So that leaves knickknacks and candles. I am thinking that it's entirely possible that I may whittle down our possessions to the point where I can actually get rid of a bookcase or two. Perhaps in a few years.  

I'm thinking a matching lamp would look nice when I put the bookcase on the other side, but then that would mean actually buying a matching lamp. I don't know that I have a need for that at the moment; I am undecided as to whether we have enough light in the living room as it is. However, I like symmetry, so I may just spend the $20 to get another lamp.

On the bottom shelf are vacation scrapbooks. They are probably the most important things to me and I have put countless hours into them, so why not have them in easy reach when I want to walk down memory lane?

Scrapbooking...that's one area I really need to work on.

I can't  wait to get the other shelf up this weekend. I'll post pics of the final reveal. I'll also post pictures of the other side of the living room, which basically contains the ginormous couch. It's a comfy couch though, so it will stay for now.

Thanks for reading!