Colour blocking OCD~is there such a thing?

Here I am about to write my second blog post.....still unsure of what I'm actually doing,but nevertheless giving it a go! After WEEKS of procrastination I thought I'd just go with the flow, put pen to paper and see where it takes me/you!

I shall begin with a quick update on the smallest room (see previous post).... my carpenter friend has approved my plans for the 'pegboard boiler cover' and has been round to measure up. The bespoke pegboard element of it that I ordered from the London based company Kreisdesign has arrived and it looks divine! The black and white hexagonal mosaic tiles from Walls and Floors have also been delivered and they look and feel absolutely gorgeous! (is it wrong that I keep wanting to stroke them?! Hmmmm.) Now, I just need to get the decorator booked to come and hang my beautiful paper and find a tiler, that can interpret my slightly bonkers tiling design!I have been a little slack and haven't yet started prepping the woodwork which I shall need to do before the decorator can start work! Oh, and no, I haven't yet dusted the pendant light fitting- but I have thought about it, so I guess that's a start!

Anyway, I digress, the question I've been asking myself recently is "Is there such a thing as colour blocking OCD?" If so, I think I have it!

A couple of weeks ago I posted a picture, on my Instagram, of my very colourful front room.

It's always quite a popular room with my IG followers and normally results in some good engagement. This post was no exception. I always get lovely comments about the styling of my Ikea Billy Bookcase and my bespoke radiator cabinet shelving unit. Both of these have been styled using my favourite method of display, 'Colour Blocking'.

I have two bookcases, in the alcoves on either side of the chimney breast. One of them houses all our reference books which consist mainly of a zillion cookery books and a few interior and garden design books. There is also an ever growing collection of Ordinance Survey maps that belong to my OH (I think he's possibly planning his escape route as he seems to spend a lot of time studying them very carefully!!)

On the other side of the fireplace, the bookcase is full to bursting with the whole family's collection of fiction books, gathered and read over many years. I don't know about you, but I never quite know what to do with 'read' books! The chances are they'll never get read again, but it always seems such a pity to discard of them after spending so much money on them in the first place! (Any suggestions relating to this conundrum gratefully received!) And so we have it.... hundreds of read books filling up a whole bookcase and although stored alphabetically by author (another of my obsessive traits!) the simple fact is...... THEY JUST LOOK UGLY

Our vast collection of fiction books looking ugly!

So I came to the decision, as I did with my wardrobe, knicker drawer and even the fruit bowl, stuff just looks better when grouped with like colours! It has also since become apparent, that stuff is easier to find when grouped with like colours (although unless you can remember the colour of the spine of every book you read this theory doesn't necessarily ring true in the old bookcase scenario!

My colour blocked wardrobe makes the task of finding something matching to wear, so much easier!

'Operation Bookcase' took me a whole day to complete and I did, on more than one occasion, consider taking the easy option of dropping all the books off at the charity shop and be done with it! Once complete I must admit to feeling quite chuffed with myself, as it does make such a huge difference, to the look of the whole room & all my OCD tendencies are satisfied!

TA-DAH!!! One colour blocked book case!

Next up, was to tackle the display shelves that fill another whole wall in this room. I had this unit built by my carpenter friend Neal, when I redesigned this space around 5 years ago. I designed it to disguise the huge ugly radiator that covered one wall. Neal built the unit in MDF, fitted it and I painted it white with grey, as a contrast in the backs of all the shelves. In hindsight now, I would have designed it slightly differently with the shelves being various heights, instead of all being the same. It's quite restrictive to have to make sure everything is below a certain size to fit in the space!

Before - I think you'll agree a pretty uninspiring display!

I had lived with my colour coded bookshelves for around a year when I decided that colour blocking my display shelves would be a fantastic idea! I set out to scour the house for items of certain colours that would fit on my shelves. Now this may sound simple, but it soon became apparent that there are certain colours that I obviously subconsciously am not fond of as I couldn't find ANYTHING to go on my blue shelf but was inundated with items for the pink one!! Who knew?!?! As the height is restricted I decided to put piles of coloured books to give a different perspective to the display and this was also quite useful for filling the spaces when I was short of items for some colours.

And so.....for the time being at least... the colour blocking of my front room is complete...... and now I'm on the lookout for some more areas in the house to get my rainbow styling hands on! Inspired by some beautiful images on Instagram I'm thinking I perhaps need to start collecting some vintage coloured glass......and maybe even some multicoloured gin bottles to go with it! Ooohh! Bring on the Cocktail of Colour!!

@lisadawson -showing off her beautiful colour blocked vintage glass collection .

@inpolife - really knows how to style a rainbow gin shelfie!