A what’s what of my colour-coded reads
Our bookshelves are a bit of a conversation starter; both online and in real-life. The colour-coded organisation gives some people a case of the heart eye emojis and others some serious Monica Geller ‘OMG we need to get out of here before she starts hoovering her hoover‘ vibes (they’re not wrong). I get asked a fair amount for a bookshelf tour, but after doing a twitter poll on the matter a couple of weeks ago the results suggested that it might be a bit of a snooze-inducing video, so instead I’m treating you to it in blog post form. If you are still awake by the end of it then consider it a triumph…
The bookcase is from West Elm. It’s still available and currently in the sale (SCORE! Link here) and although it wasn’t exactly the cheapest purchase – it houses all the annoying bits and bobs that we keep in our living room in a way that still looks pretty minimal. Open up the doors and it’s stuffed with board games, CD’s, vinyls – the lot. Those bits live in the closed shelving units and then in the open ones below we keep extra blankets and pillows, our photo albums and our Crosley Record Player.
Right onto the books. In terms of the colour-coding organisation, it’s easy peasy to do. Just take everything off the shelves, sort in piles according to the colour of the spine and then adjust the books accordingly as you put them back on the shelves. The only ball-ache comes when you buy a new book that yet again has a white-coloured spine – boo! When it comes to reading I like a bit of everything, but I tend to reach for literature that focuses more on the #GIRLBOSS side of the spectrum, those with a bit of beauty and fashion thrown in or books written by some of my favourite people in the entertainment industry. I save full-on fiction reads for holidays and airplanes because I tend to get sucked in and struggle to function as a normal human being (I once walked into a lamppost because I was reading ‘Gone Girl’ on a walk home in the rain).
Other books that I’ve enjoyed aside from #GIRLBOSS, in the ‘women kicking ass’ category include; ‘Lean In’ by Cheryl Sandberg (I’m currently reading this for the second time), ‘Big Magic’ by Elizabeth Gilbert and ‘Running Like a Girl’ by Alexandra Heminsley, which if you ever fancy getting into running is a book you must read before dusting off your trainers.
For a serving of beauty you can’t go wrong with Sali Hughes’ ‘Pretty Honest’ and ‘Pretty Iconic’. Both are reads that I dip into whenever I want to soak up some cosmetic industry knowledge and know-how. If you want a beginner’s guide to beauty then I highly recommend Bobbi Brown’s ‘Makeup Manual’ – I begged my parents for two years to get me this for Christmas and it was well worth the puppy dog eyes. For something that’s so visually appealing that it hurts check out ‘Makeup Your Mind, Express Yourself’ by Francois Nars. You won’t be disappointed.
Some of the books that I reach for time and time again are written by hilarious ladies from my favourite programmes and because I’m such a 30 Rock/Parks & Rec/The Office fangirl, they naturally make me all giddy whenever I read them. I read ‘Bossypants’ by Tina Fey in about two days, when I finished ‘Yes Please’ by Amy Poehler I downloaded the audiobook immediately because I wanted to hear her read the whole thing again for me and ‘Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?’ and ‘Why Not Me?’ by Mindy Kaling make me do the shoulder-shake giggle. I’m dying to read her book with B.J Novak when it’s released. KELLY AND RYAN 4EVZ.
Photos by Lauren Shipley
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