After Christmas, I was CRAVING simplicity & I couldn’t wait to take the Christmas decor down especially here in the library. I was ready to take everything off the shelves an hour after our last Christmas party was over & that’s about what happened. I was craving neutral simplicity & this Library here on White Cottage Farm is now just that. Neutral, cozy, & simplified. At least for my eclectic taste. I realize for some the number of books & accessories is maybe a lot for some, but for me, it is just right for a neutral winter library look that I was excited to share with you today here on the blog…
Last year I started to collect neutral books as we went out & about thrifting and antiquing. I had a look like this in mind but knew it would take a while so I also purchased some online to get the ball rolling a little quicker too. I have a DIY coming with wrapping books to get a similar look so stay tuned for that here on the blog as well! You could achieve this look with multiple color books, all green books, blue books, or more. I of course chose neutrals for this neutral winter library. From tans to whites & every neutral shade in between. I love the look it gave on these painted bookshelves of ours.
Speaking of painted book shelves, I had painted these bookshelves right before Christmas including the trim in the room. I didn’t share it as we were approaching Christmas because it wasn’t exactly “Christmas decor” which now I’m seeing was silly, but it was also because I wasn’t sure of the color as well, but it’s grown on me! It’s a perfect darker mushroom color & the best part? it was a custom color I made based on an antique that I love. The antique? My favorite mora clock that is in our front living room…
& I wouldn’t be a good friend if I didn’t give you the formula so you can make this custom color yourself! So here I am being a good friend and sharing this color with you so you can sample it & see how it would look in your home:
The Paint Color
BEHR ULTRA
BASE: 1720
ULTRA SCUFF DEFENSE/FLAT,MATTE
Custom Color Match
| CLRTN | CL | DL | LL |
| OZ | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 384th | 120 | 12 | 192 |
I love creating custom colors based off of things I love like antiques & inspiration from nature. I feel like this is a great way to make your home feel truly yours & truly special! But of course like I said, I couldn’t keep this to myself. I love how this room came out with just a little paint on the shelves & trim. It added a lot of cozy texture & dimension to the space & brought more life to this awkward room that connects the front of the house to the kitchen. It’s a hallway that has always been hard to style, but in the year 2022 we are hoping to make big changes in this part of the house that make this room less of a hallway room & more into a hallway & a separate room all together. More on that later, can’t wait to share!
The Book Collection
The paint stole the show, but the book collection is a close second. I gathered up some books from around the internet if you want to shop online to create your own look inspired by this, but I do have a couple tips for when you are out thrifting and antiquing to start your own book collection as well:
- Check local thrift stores & antique stores often for affordable books as these places are updated daily with new product & they often have used books to dig through.
- Pick out a color pallet that you want to use & decide what range of colors you want to stick to. whether it’s blacks, grays, & silvers or shades of green or like me sticking to whites, tans, beige, & creams.
- Check under book jackets because you may be surprised that the actual book cover is the color you are looking for & you can recycle the sleeve.
- You can find thrifted books for cheap & also recover them with craft paper or paper that matches your color pallet.
- Check with family & friends to see if they have any used books they no longer want that fit your vibe.
- If you find an antique book that has seen better days you can remove the cover to reveal the deconstructed pages for a very antique vibe.
Start your own book collection by checking out some online options below:
I hope some of these tips helped today & I hope getting a glimpse at our current cozy neutral winter library was inspiring in some way. We have been loving this space for so many things. I have loved working here as it’s centrally located & I can keep an eye on all the things while I type this post out [please excuse all my errors as I was playing toy story with a two-year-old in between sentences]. But I truly am very excited to show you the places we have for this space in 2022 as well. To see it in real-time don’t forget to follow me on Facebook and Instagram! Fun things coming to White Cottage Farm, but as always I hope that we always show you that it can be cozy in the in-between as well. THANK YOU for stopping by the blog today & every single day to see what we are up to!
xx Liz Marie
@lizmarieblog Thrift happens. #thrifted #thrifthaul #antiques #antiquestorefinds #antique
