The shelves we bought... twice
A ladder bookcase that continues to be one of our favorite pieces of home decór.
The backstory
During our first walkthrough of the condo we would eventually buy in St. Paul a couple years ago, at the intersection of the entrance, kitchen, living room and pathway to the master bedroom was a hightop table with two chairs and one massive fork and one massive spoon affixed to the wall with the word “EAT.”
Funny now, but it took a bit of coercing to get Aaron to envision how we might change the space after seeing that.
Because that wall was such a vocal point of the common space, we opted for two Helix 70" Bookcases from CB2.
When we sold the place last year, everything affixed to the wall was a part of the sale. I’m sure we could have fought for them, but there was no doubt in our minds that their form and function in the space helped sell it.
Ladder bookcases in our sold St. Paul condo.
Second time
Fast forward to our new home, where the prior homeowners shared our aesthetic but also were even more daring than we are when it comes to wall color. Most of the home has white walls, which we love, but the living room takes on a character of its own with dark forest green textured walls, a black matte fireplace with a white hearth and classic 50s archways. Needless to say this was new territory for us and it has taken a year to decide exactly what to do with the long empty wall across from the fireplace.
Aaron reminded me one night of the ladder bookcases we loved in the condo, and with a lot more wall space, we could opt for three of them.
They were on sale, turning this late-night-quarantine idea into a purchase. This is our venture into the dark side of our interior design. The walnut shelves with black powder-coated steel of these ladder bookcases meeting the rest of the room creates what Aaron and I like to think of as some sort of Scandinavian cigar room.
Once again, these bookcases bring the statement we were looking for without overwhelming the room (only 11.75 in. deep), the function of “storage” without crates or cabinets and my personal favorite: the end of my journey to find the absolute perfect piece of artwork for the wall, when all I needed was a photo of my grandfather at his desk, some books and records and of course one Maneki-neko.
Our second purchase of the ladder bookcases.
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