Help me style my builtins and mantel.

[ktzmoh]

So this mantel and built in thing has been finished since December and I've been slowly pulling out my boxes and boxes of books and 'stuff' we've collected over the years. Here is where I am now in terms of styling the shelves, but I think I don't know where to go from here - I think I need help with some empty spots and I definitely need help with the mantel. Overall, I think it looks a little bland now, so I'd like some things with some color if possible.  We are going for blues in this room, and I'm very drawn to indigo right now. H is a molecular biologist, my career takes me traveling often, and both of us are academic-y types - so I'm going for a style that reflects that. I like the vintage industrial trend and feel inspired thinking about victorian-era scholars traveling and collecting and studying all the things.

Here is a photo of the whole thing so you get an overview:
On the mantel, I've currently got a grouping of old lab glass that came from one of H's labs. We've stashed corks in one of them for a while now, but those can go. I think I'd like to find something to put in the big carved bowl in the middle. I tend to do seasonal things in there, but I think I'd like something all year round to go in there. ideas? To the left of that bowl, you see two bunnies which are basically the extent of my easter decorations ... pathetic. And then I have some random stuff I don't know what to do with.

I think I want to hang the bent wood plant hanger from the ceiling there on the left. I think it will tie in nicely with the molded plywood that will go near the ruler growth chart.





Also, I need some ideas for the walls. What do I put on all these walls? I was thinking about some art in portrait orientation - like maybe some art in this style: pinterest.com/pin/89509111316198058/ - it's kind of got that biology text/academic kind of vibe, but a little softer and artistic at the same time. Any other ideas? I'm struggling to find art for those big empty wall spaces. Where do people buy art?

I also have stalled out on the left set of shelves. I think I've exhausted most of my box of things I've collected  - the only left over items are smallish and I think I need bigger pieces to occupy these spaces- and pieces with some color. So far, everything on these shelves has lots of meaning for us - text books, glassware, items collected during travel, gifts from dear friends, that kind of stuff. So I think I'm okay buying some things that aren't particularly meaningful just to kind of finish this off so that it doesn't seem so bare.

Here's a closer photo of the left side that needs help.



I was thinking about looking around on etsy or something for a neat looking microscope or something for the middle shelf on the left-most panel. But what can I put in the big shelf at the bottom there that is so barren? I also feel like I need some interesting book ends or something. Help me. I'm sputtering on this big time.

My coffee table is coming along and we are ordering the rest of the furniture in April. I so want this room to be done and I need help with this part of it.

[ktzmoh]

Mar 12, 2013 9:12:16 GMT -5 FormerlyRR said:

Stairs 
More stairs
Tortoise shell

Shell

Those stairs are so cool!! I love them! I like the tortoise shell , but I love the stairs. Thank you!!

[house]

Your place looks great! I am no help cuz I am not good at decorating. My DH and I are both chemists (well, I was). So, we both have years of experience working with those 4L Erlenmeyer flasks. LOL! How was he able to bring the glassware home?!? Anyways, b/c our professions I plan on making these eventually to reflect us
since we are both kinda nerds. LOL. While it's called honeycomb shelves here, all I see is a giant molecule made of benzene rings



Or get these for a smaller scale application


We are probably going to have a caffeine molecule on our wall somewhere. 

[TBM]

I love that everything is meaningful...it is all so interesting. I would be willing to wait for the right pieces to present themselves rather than buying something just to be finished.

The upper left shelf needs something more vertical, and the upper right shelf on the left side could use a little rearranging...maybe switch the elevated one with the one next to it, and group the teapots to one side, and move the fish toward the other side. They can still overlap, but it seems like they need to be offset a little.

[Blueper]

I don't have much to add- I just want to say that I love your set-up. The previous owners did faux flag stone treatment from the hearth to the ceiling, and my H wants to murder me because I want to rip it down and essentially do what you have.

My suggestions
-Balance out the sides, it is very right-heavy.
-I would put the shoes on a pile of books
-If you put the P on the lower left side next to the botanical? print and stack of books it would pop more.
-I'm relatively short, so the mirror looks too close to the ceiling.

ETA: B not P

[ktzmoh]

Mar 12, 2013 11:00:39 GMT -5 house said:

Your place looks great! I am no help cuz I am not good at decorating. My DH and I are both chemists (well, I was). So, we both have years of experience working with those 4L Erlenmeyer flasks. LOL! How was he able to bring the glassware home?!? Anyways, b/c our professions I plan on making these eventually to reflect us
since we are both kinda nerds. LOL. While it's called honeycomb shelves here, all I see is a giant molecule made of benzene rings



Or get these for a smaller scale application


We are probably going to have a caffeine molecule on our wall somewhere. 

That's awesome! I love that. I dumpster dive/trash picked the glassware from some buildings that were being demolished. i was way too excited to be in the trash pile.

I love the benzene ring art. LOL! My husband gave me an anniversary gift one year - a tattoo with my name spelled out in amino acids. now that is love. <3

[OG Jo]

I second the suggestion of balancing out the left and right shelves. The right shelves look heavy and dark to me -- maybe switch out a few 'cubbies' and put a couple of the books, etc. from the right to the left and vice versa.

[ktzmoh]

Mar 12, 2013 11:25:15 GMT -5 TBM said:

I love that everything is meaningful...it is all so interesting. I would be willing to wait for the right pieces to present themselves rather than buying something just to be finished.

The upper left shelf needs something more vertical, and the upper right shelf on the left side could use a little rearranging...maybe switch the elevated one with the one next to it, and group the teapots to one side, and move the fish toward the other side. They can still overlap, but it seems like they need to be offset a little.

Ok so rearrange the teapots to one side, move the fish over. I can do that. I'll root around in my boxes of leftover things for something that might work with a little more height in the upper right. Now that I think about it, I had a wooden carving of a giraffe and a gazelle there that were a bit taller behind and to the left of the frames - but they seem to have disappeared. I suspect a certain 2 year old... I'll look for those in the toy basket.

Mar 12, 2013 12:26:05 GMT -5 Blueper said:

I don't have much to add- I just want to say that I love your set-up. The previous owners did faux flag stone treatment from the hearth to the ceiling, and my H wants to murder me because I want to rip it down and essentially do what you have.

My suggestions
-Balance out the sides, it is very right-heavy.
-I would put the shoes on a pile of books
-If you put the P on the lower left side next to the botanical? print and stack of books it would pop more.
-I'm relatively short, so the mirror looks too close to the ceiling.

ETA: B not P

I know - the whole thing feels unbalanced. Our supply of books is kind of exhausted - all the rest are currently in the office and they kind of belong there. But I'll take another peak. More than likely, I'll just steal some of my dad's amazing books when i visit them this weekend {{nefarious laugh}}

I was hoping the mirror wasn't too high, but I think you might be right. Especially if we wind up adding crown molding. We put it a little higher anticipating having some other art on the mantel (which we obviously haven't done yet) Ug what a PITA to move that thing.

[house]

Mar 12, 2013 12:32:04 GMT -5 ktzmoh said:

Mar 12, 2013 11:00:39 GMT -5 house said:

Your place looks great! I am no help cuz I am not good at decorating. My DH and I are both chemists (well, I was). So, we both have years of experience working with those 4L Erlenmeyer flasks. LOL! How was he able to bring the glassware home?!? Anyways, b/c our professions I plan on making these eventually to reflect us
since we are both kinda nerds. LOL. While it's called honeycomb shelves here, all I see is a giant molecule made of benzene rings



Or get these for a smaller scale application


We are probably going to have a caffeine molecule on our wall somewhere. 

That's awesome! I love that. I dumpster dive/trash picked the glassware from some buildings that were being demolished. i was way too excited to be in the trash pile.

I love the benzene ring art. LOL! My husband gave me an anniversary gift one year - a tattoo with my name spelled out in amino acids. now that is love. <3

--Faint! That is too cute!! I am guessing it was a temporary tatto?