difference of opinion

A few weeks ago the News and Observer ran an article by a designer about the proper way to decorate your bookcases.  Included were two pictures, a before and after, (I think on the web you have to click on a thumbnail to get the before shot), and I like the BEFORE picture better.  Maybe that says I don't have good taste, but I just think that picture looks overdone and cluttered. That big vase on the right side? It's too big to be up there. It's almost touching the ceiling. And that picture from straddling the two cases? That's a collapse waiting to happen the first time a person starts to exercise or a wheelchair drives by at 45mph trying to get to the phone. And that bust sticking out in front? That belongs between the bookcase and the wall, and those pictures on the floor need to be hung somewhere or stashed inside a shelf. I put things on the floor because I don't have time to get to them. Trust me. That's not an artistic statement.

Granted, I don't think the before picture looks great. It does look bare. And I'm not opposed to have momentos or gadgets on a bookshelf. I have stuffed animals and ceramics and super cool bookends on ours (and for the record, our bookshelves in one room looked very cluttered because of too many books and need of cleaning time, but that's a different matter all together). I totally agree with the concept that it's okay to put other things besides books on a bookshelf, and decorative things give a focal point. But this designer went over the top the other way. She has more decorative stuff with books added to them, and there's no symmetry or unity (other than popping whiteness) in anything she's done.

And yes, a month later, this article still rankles. So maybe I'm boring. Maybe I'm too simplistic. But I'd choose that first before photo any day (except I would slide my books to the ends of the shelves and not leave them smack dab in the center). But I suppose at the end of the day, that's what makes a person's home theirs: they can organize the bookshelves however they desire.