Contain Your Shelf: Bookcase Decorating Ideas

You don't have to be an avid reader to own a bookcase. Bookcases are a stylish and decorative storage solution that can fit almost any room of your home. Because they come in a wide range of sizes, a low-profile bookcase in a hallway is a functional yet trendy way of managing clothing items like mitts, hats and scarves. Or how about a corner bookshelf in the kitchen as a handy place to store those cookbooks you use the most? Dust off your ideas about those dusty bookshelves in your local library; when decorating with bookcases, the possibilities are endless.

Decide on the Location

Decide on the location of your bookcase. Measure the area where the bookshelf will be going. Especially if it will be in a high-traffic area such as a hallway, living room or family room, check to make sure that the bookcase will not impede traffic floor, be in the way of opening/closing doors, etc.

Decide on the Purpose

Choosing a focus or purpose for your bookcase might also play a part in the style, size and type you end up buying. Bookcases equipped with baskets provide easy and effortless storage solutions for a front hallway or a living room. In a basement room or family room, bookcases with baskets or cubbies are ideal for storing crafting supplies, games or toys.

Bookcase Decorating Tips

Place baskets or organizer trays in one or two shelves of a bookcase in a guest bedroom.

Have a bookshelf you no longer use? Paint it a different color and repurpose it. Who can't use extra shelving in a laundry room, the garage or on an enclosed porch or sun room?

Bookcases make a great economical alternative to a china cabinet or a curio. Use one in a living room or dining room to display collectibles.


- E.L.

Easy to Shop For

Most of us have, at some point or another, been told by a family member or significant other whether or not we are easy to shop for. This assessment is typically given around Christmas or one’s birthday, and if finding a gift for you doesn’t require much thought or effort you will be given this distinction.

Young children are the only demographic group as a whole that can have the “easy to shop for” tag attached to the lot of them. This is even more true when you consider the array of children’s products at www.childrensfurnitureselect.com. Don’t be too quick to assume that simply means toy after toy for the little ones. Although toys are a big part of the ease in finding enthusiastically-received kids’ gifts, playfully themed children’s fixtures are an equally safe bet much of the time.

As you might imagine, I’m a big proponent of planting the bookworm seed at as young an age as possible. Your little guy might beam upon receiving a Levels of Discovery Firefighter Revolving Bookcase with its fire-hydrant theme, and if so you may want to consider adding any one or all of the Levels of Discovery Firefighter Collection.

Enjoy these years, as before you know it you’ll be in a record store grossly mispronouncing the name of some obscure indie band. They don’t remain easy to shop for for very long.

Reveling in all that is dainty is very much a rite in the life of all young girls. While it’s not as simple as being drawn to anything pink or frilly, it does make it somewhat easier for parents and extended family or friends to choose a suitable gift for the little princess. To that end, do consider any of the Levels of Discovery Always a Princess Collection of suitably charming bedroom fixtures for your little lady before her tastes to switch to all manner of paraphernalia related to painfully androgynous-looking boy bands.

Don’t let your token adherence to conventional wisdom deceive you as to whether members of your family are easy to shop for. That you buy a tie for your father’s b-day every year doesn’t mean he’s just that, and the same goes for buying oven mitts for your mom the every 3-4 years it takes for the last pair to perish. I freely admit to being one for which the lack of intuition and creativity when it comes to occasion shopping makes easy-giftees out of some who perhaps shouldn’t be.

For example, if your little girl has amassed quite the doll collection over the years, why not veer wide left and surprise her with a Levels of Discovery Best of Buds Mirrored Storage Seat in her bedroom. She can admire herself in the full-length mirror and the storage seat means she can keep Barbie and Ken as immaculately proportioned and blemish free as the good lord intended them.

That young children are indeed so easy to shop for is a blessing that certainly does not last. While it’s here, be sure to enjoy it and make it equally easy on your hectic schedule with the convenience of shopping online at Cymax Stores.

My Letter to Santa Claus

Dear Santa,

Just to set the record, I had a great childhood and got lots of stuff for Christmas (as you know) every year. But when I was growing up, we didn’t have Children’s Furniture Select. Since I know that a Ferrari convertible won’t fit in the elevator of our office building, please bring the following:

I always wanted a train set. My theory is I had no brothers, so no train set. So please put the The Kidkraft Santa Stacking Train in my stocking. It looks like a lot of fun! Great picture of you, by the way.

A rocking horse – either the Derby Rocking Horse by Kidcraft or (and I know it’s not really a horse, but it’s kind of a horse) the Kidkraft Harley Davidson Lil' Diva Rock 'N Ride. If you can’t bring both, surprise me!

I love to read. The KidKraft Princess Bookcase looks absolutely divine. Books would be even more magical if I had some place pink to keep them.

And the absolutely last thing on my wish list is the Savannah Dollhouse. To be honest, I did have a dollhouse when I was growing up, but not one as tall as I would have been back then.

Thanks.

Yours truly,
A Cymax Stores copywriter

P.S. You know where I sit, but just in case, it will be the desk that has the big plate of cookies on it.

A Home Office or a Guest Bedroom? Why not BOTH?!

There's one room in your home that doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up. Originally, you intended to use it as a home office, so you bought a desk but when relatives came for a visit, you stuck a bed in there as well. Currently the room is being used as a storage room, and now there's barely enough room to sit down at the computer. With a little bit of creative planning, you will be able to transform it into a functional dual purpose space that will be a welcoming place to work and an inviting room for guests.

Decide first what the room will be mostly used for. If you have a home-based business, or use the computer on a regular basis, then choose the home office as the room's primary purpose. The room's emphasis will determine the type of furnishings you buy and how they will be arranged.

The most important piece of furniture when planning a home office is the desk. Select the smallest size of desk you will be comfortable with. You might be tempted to choose an impressive looking executive desk, but when decorating for a dual purpose room, you will want to use your available floor space sparingly so that you can fit everything in.

To make the room as warm and inviting as possible when used as a guest room, choose enclosed storage wherever possible. Putting office-related peripherals, such as the printer, fax machine and the CPU behind doors, not only controls clutter but helps to make the atmosphere less business-like.

Bookshelves are an excellent choice when decorating a dual purpose room. Even if they are used mostly for manuals or reference materials, a shelf full of books tends make the room look comfortably lived-in. It is also a great place to display mementos and collectibles. When guests are over, place baskets or storage trays in a section of the bookcase or shelving unit to use for items they would like to keep close at hand.

Of course, your home office/guest bedroom will need someplace for your guests to sleep. There are so many alternatives to choose from but the three main categories are sofa beds, futon sofas and daybeds.

Sofa beds, also called sleeper sofas or hide-a-beds, are sofas with a bed frame and bed built into the unit. As needed, it can be unfolded from inside the couch and then retracted when not being used as a bed. Due to the bed mechanism, sofa beds tend to be heavier than regular sofas of the same size.

Because they can be used as a sofa by day and a bed at night, futons are ideal for dual purpose rooms. Once used to decorate dorm rooms and basement bedrooms, today the futon is a popular choice for the living room, family room, den or guest bedroom. Since the mattress sits directly on top of the futon frame, it tends to be lighter and more user-friendly than a sofa bed.

Daybeds resemble a standard sofa, with a back and two arms. They function as a bed and generally do not transform into a couch. During the day, daybeds can be used as a sofa. Since they are essentially a kind of bed rather than a couch, they utilize bedding linens and accessories such as skirts, throw pillows and comforters, and can look quite decorative. For a dual purpose room where the home office is the primary use, a daybed might not be the ideal choice, especially if you need to meet with clients or business associates.

Filing cabinets come in all shapes, sizes and designs. Select one that is stylish enough to be used as a nightstand or end table. If you will be storing sensitive materials in your home office, choose a lockable filing cabinet.

If there is closet space, consider adding a chest of drawers or a small dresser. When not used by guests, it will be a great place to store extra office supplies such as copier paper, notepads, etc. If there is no closet, consider adding a wardrobe armoire. Should that be out of the question, put hooks on the back of the door so that your guests will have someplace to hang clothes, etc.

These dual purpose room design tips will help you create a space in your home that is an ideal work environment for you, but a comfortable place for guests whenever they come to stay.

Fantasy Worlds with Realistic Funds: Children’s Bedroom Furniture on a Budget

For years, I taught in a preschool and kindergarten, and though I learned a lot from the kids, one of the most valuable things I took away from my time at the school was how absolutely loved the children were by their parents. I enjoyed my time with my students and the days were filled with laughter, learning, and play, but come three o’clock, my students would line up against the outside wall of the school, and whenever a parent came down the path, I would dismiss a child, smiling as the little girl or boy ran as fast as they could into their parent’s arms. Artwork was shown off, stories from the day were told, and new songs that we’d learned were sung into their mother or father’s ears.

That school was always a happy place for my students; I took them in as though they were my own, and loved every minute of the time we spent together. But it was kids’ pure joy at seeing their loved ones and knowing that they got to go home that always gave me a sense of peace. Our school was decked out with the best equipment for both educational and recreational purposes, but nothing beats the safety and comfort that a home provides for a child.

Kids grow up way too fast and they tire of things really quickly. You don’t want to spend a lot of money on something that will last just a few years, especially as children constantly seem to be ready for something newer and bigger. You want to spoil your child, but that can be a daunting task to do on a budget. At Cymax, we take your budget into account and have a few tips up our sleeve for you to spoil your child while still being able to save for their college fund… which will be in use sooner than you think.

A child’s bedroom should be a safe haven – a place where they can play, learn, and dream. While there are a lot of furnishing options out there, at Cymax, we assure you that we can transform your child’s entire bedroom into a fantasy world that they will love, all for under $500.

Firefighters and princesses, am I right? Take the KidKraft Firefighter Bedroom Furniture Set. This adorable set includes a Firefighter Toddler Bed that transforms into a fire truck and an inventive Firefighter Hydrant Nightstand for $72. Add a Firefighter Step Stool for $30 and an imaginative Firefighter Clothes Pole for $43. For a grand total of $245, your little boy can live the life that he’s always dreamed of: the life of a hero.

For the princesses out there (and from my teaching experience, there are many) Cymax offers the KidKraft Princess Bedroom Furniture Suite. This stunning set includes a Princess Toddler Bed with four posts trimmed with gold crowns and a nightstand that is sure to add a royal touch to any young girl’s room, all for $172. Add a Princess Vanity Table and Stool for $144, where your little dreamer can get lost in the looking-glass. Finally, for a place to keep your little girl’s fairytale books and keepsakes, Cymax offers a Princess Bookcase for $93. Spoil your little princess with these bedroom furnishings for a total of $421, making it a happily-ever-after ending for both you and for her.

Cymax offers online shopping for products that encourage your child’s imagination and create a safe and fun environment for them to thrive in. My students always seemed ready for the school day, well-rested and relaxed. While in the afternoons, I watched the kids tell their parents all about their school day, in the mornings, I was the one who got to hear about their afternoons and evenings, their mornings before school, and the dreams they dreamed.

As one little girl once said to me: “I can be anyone I want to be when I sleep, but when I wake up, I get to be me again.”

Thinking Outside the Box: Breaking Free From Office Cubicles

Cubicle life can be drab and draining at the best of times. Being caged inside four walls of grey fuzzy fabric, put together with rusty screws and wobbly legs does not exactly inspire a creative and effective work area. Natural light and open space should not be a break-time luxury; instead, it should be a fundamental element of your office space.

Cymax Stores provides online shopping for office furniture that is essential to a successful work environment. At www.bushfurniturecollection.com, you will find a variety of office furniture fit for every type of business and every office employee. Office space arrangements can be tricky, but with over seven hundred options for cubicle configurations alone, Bush Furniture covers everything you might never have even thought of. No matter how small or big your office is, we’ll find a fit.

With collections such as Bush Furniture’s Office-in-an-Hour, designing your workplace has never been so simple. Cymax allows you to narrow your search by design, finish, and price so that you can find what you need right away. Mismatched chairs and tables, lack of storage options, and messy wires stick out like sore thumbs. Impress your clients with stylish uniformity and pamper your employees to a comfortable work environment.

Bush Furniture desks come with panel grommets for wire access, keeping computer equipment tidy and out of sight, so no more tripping over cable wires on your way to the boss’s office! No matter if you are right or left handed either, you will find a desk that accommodates you.

Although a messy desk might make it seem like you have a lot of work on your hands, it doesn’t look attractive for the passerby. Filing cabinets can help you clean up your desk and organize your files so that important information is out-of-sight but easy to access. Also an attractive and efficient storage option is a hutch for over a desk. A hutch allows you to keep your desk surface clear; it also allows you to display special items, such as framed photographs of your loved ones, so that your workspace has an individual and personal feel to it. Bush Furniture also carries bookshelves in all sorts of colors, sizes, and styles.

Many items in the Bush Furniture collection come in a variety of finishes, giving a different look for every office, while keeping the style within one workspace the same. With choices in quality materials, styles, and collections, get rid of the drib and drab in your workplace.

Most of us spend more of our waking hours at work than we do in our own homes, which is one of the reasons why it is so important to furnish an office in a way that respects and keeps in mind the needs of each employee. Our environment affects our frame of mind, which in turn affects our ability to produce and inspire ideas and productivity. Cymax works to help you accomplish a positive environment for your work team with our extensive Bush Furniture collections.

From our office to yours: happy shopping.

Shoes, Bibliophilia and a Place for Everything

Yes, I’m a woman. But I have never understood the attraction of owning so many pairs of shoes that they become a storage problem in need of a storage solution. Until I saw the movie In Her Shoes, when Rose Feller explains to her sister Maggie why she buys so many pairs, but hardly wears any of them. “When I feel bad I like to treat myself. Clothes never look any good…food just makes me fatter…shoes always fit.”

Okay, that makes sense to me. It’s the way I feel about books. Buying a new book, buying a used book, borrowing a book or re-reading a book I already own, is my personal quick fix for feeling better. When I feel bad, I too, like to treat myself. If I feel like I need a vacation, browsing the Travel section of a bookstore, preferably coffee table books about Italy, the Louvre or the castles of Germany, can be an inexpensive way to visit a European country. When I want to indulge in decadent desserts with absolutely no risk to my waistline, cookbooks are a safe option. But my all time favorite thing to do, especially in the summertime when I can read in the park, is to take a trip to the public library, pick out ten mystery novels and spend the remainder of the weekend and the following three weeks immersed in volumes of murdered corpses and those who solve the conundrums of their deaths. For a person who is not particularly fond of violence, this is my one exception—after all, it is fiction. When life gets just a little too much to deal with, my best defense is a selection from J. D. Robb’s In Death series or one of the Harry Bosch novels by Michael Connelly. If the world has really thrown me a curve ball, that’s when I reach for the hard core stuff, like Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, and read until I am ready to deal with the issue at hand.

I went through grade school being called a bookworm and spent my high school days answering to the nickname “Dictionary.” On days when work is so busy and hectic, when break time rolls around, sometimes all I want to do is read—eating is immaterial; if I don’t read, I reach critical mass faster than it takes a Lamborghini to go from 0 to 60 mph (3.59 seconds) and it’s not a pretty sight. (I mean me reaching critical mass.) I don’t even need to actually read the book; sometimes just flipping through the pages, or if it’s illustrated, just looking at the pictures, is enough to put a fresh spin on a bad day.

Do I sound weird? Well, they actually have a word for people like me. A ‘bibliophile’ is a person who admires, reads and collects books while ‘bibliophilia’ is the love of books, although the term is controversial, some arguing that it’s incorrect usage, others claiming that it is a relatively new expression. I think ‘bibliophilia’ is the perfect word to describe the addiction I have had all my life—well, at least since I learned how to read.

Aside from the view—I can see the ocean from my living room window—first time visitors to my apartment almost always comment on the number of books I own. In my living room, I have a library wall that houses my TV and a medium sized media collection, but on either side of this center section are two gloriously wide and spacious compartments designed to hold books. On the opposite wall of my living room, and matching the wall unit, is a freestanding bookcase, narrower in stature but no less impressive in its capacity to hold the L to Z portion of my personal library. (Yes, the books are arranged in alphabetical order.) Then there is a hand-me-down set of bookshelves, no less loved or treasured, that house my special collection. These are the books that are separated from the rest of the pack because I read them over and over again. They are a mixture of inspirational, non-fiction, fiction and children’s books. They tell stories that heal all that is wrong with the world; they feature heroes and heroines that get wounded, get knocked down, get up and who, at the end of the tale, conquer or at least have learned something new about themselves. These are the stories I have culled over the years that speak to my heart and resonate in my soul. These are the stories that in some way tell my story—and so I read them again and again, just to make sure that I am still okay.

Having them all around me, in plain view is an important part of bibliophilia. They sit on their bookshelves, in their appointed places, at the ready. They remind me, that in a world that seems chaotic and where senseless things randomly happen, sometimes there are definitive answers—there are stories worth telling and reading over and over.