Shelf-ish

I love clutter. I adore having little sentimental objects, trinkets, tchotchkes and art. I consider empty walls and surfaces in my home deeply disturbing and generally an affront to my sensibilities. 

I also frequently enjoy looking at old photos. Seriously, if I come to visit you and you're not sure how to entertain me, break out the photo albums, I'll love it. 

Anyway, I've been fiddling with arrangements of objects, art and photos on our living room shelves for awhile now. The shelves themselves are special; they were built by my grandpa and hung on brass wall standards on the wall of my grandparents' den. Before my grandparents' house was sold, my dad removed the shelves and standards for me (requiring him to patch and re-paint the wall, an effort I very much appreciated) and I brought them home with me to Santa Cruz.

My goal was to make sure that Steve's and my families and friends were all represented. That I could look at these eight shelves and see the most treasured people in our lives amongst our favorite decorative objects. It's a work in progress, as there are a few people still missing (because I want to get new pictures with them) but that shall be remedied in time. I do feel, however, that I've progressed far enough for the blog debut.

Three large watercolors painted by my grandpa provide the backdrop for pictures of my family (grandparents from both sides, parents and brother), and friends I consider family (Scott, Eric, Jack and J):

Another watercolor by my grandpa, a painting given to me by my grandma, a photo of a comet over stonehenge (which I brought back from England for Steve in 2001), as well as Billy the cardboard bison hang above pictures of Steve as a child with his parents and siblings (a more recent full family portrait with spouses and kids is mounted prominently on our fridge in the kitchen), Steve and I right after we got engaged, a few of our wonderful middle and high school friends (Lindsay, Melissa J and Melissa G-W), and pictures of me and my friend Kristi spanning 1st grade to senior year of high school:

The shelves Steve built above his desk have also gotten the "Lisa treatment" and feature mostly mementoes from Steve's expeditions to Indonesia and Papua New Guinea:

Not every object has a story, but most do. Where others undoubtedly see chaos (I fully admit my decorating style can be a bit... much), I feel very centered and content when I look at the accumulation of 32 years of memories.