Monday 2 March 2015

At home: A bedroom picture shelf


I'm ridiculously obsessed with pictures and prints. You know when you go round to someone's house and they don't have anything on the walls? Yeah, I find that really weird. My walls are crammed with photographs, posters, screenprints... you name it, I'll have framed it. So it was odd that for a very long time I had a huge blank wall above the bed.

In the end, it became a case of needs must: Thomas needed somewhere to store books as there's no room for a bedside table on his side, and I wanted somewhere for a plant and a few other bits and pieces I'd been collecting. So instead of a standard wall of pictures, we decided on a picture shelf. We could have opted for a specialist picture shelf but they're usually too narrow for books, so instead we went for normal shelving timber and brackets from B&Q. In the absence of the usual ridge on a picture shelf that stops the frames sliding off or toppling onto sleeping people, I've secured each one with a couple of sticky pads.


With fantastic timing, just as I was finishing up buying the timber eFrame got in touch with me to ask if I'd be interested in trying out a couple of their frames. eFrame offer a range of standard picture frames but of more interest to me was their custom framing service, which is especially handy when you have hard-to-frame prints and pictures in non-standard sizes or shapes.

I was especially keen to try their new Print & Frame service and had spied a printable PDF on Etsy featuring a line from Thomas's favourite song, Go Your Own Way, as a pretty art print. This seemed like a great opportunity to have it professionally printed and framed. The website allowed me to play around with different options for the frame, the mount and the size of the image: in the end, I went for a simple white frame with narrow white mount, and I love how it looks. I also popped a second frame - without mount - into the shopping basket, this one for my 30cm² Screw The Patriarchy print, which wouldn't fit into a standard off-the-shelf frame.


I was really impressed with the service I received from eFrame. Everyone I dealt with (there were some delivery issues - entirely my own fault, I hasten to add - so I had to get in touch a few times) was super friendly and lovely, and the frames themselves are great quality and a very good price for custom framing. I'd heartily recommend their service next time you have something tricky to frame.

Details: 
Timber & shelf brackets - B&Q
Aloe Vera plant - Ikea (in an old pot)
Vintage shop sign 'K' - Bringing The Outside In, Holkham, Norfolk (it might be a little weird to have a letter that doesn't occur in either of our names, but k is the first letter of my mum's maiden name, a name (and family) which is very important to me)
You Can Go Your Own Way printable PDF - Etsy
Screw The Patriarchy print - Redbubble
It's A Wonderful Life poster - eBay
Black Ribba frames - all Ikea
Small white frame - Wilko
Custom square frames - eFrame

Disclosure: eFrame gifted me the two frames in exchange for an honest review, but all opinions are entirely my own. No, really... I would never be less than honest even when getting something for free (I think my rather scathing reviews of some of the free books I've received makes that clear!).

17 comments:

  1. This looks so lovely! It's inspired me to purchase some shelving for above my bed!

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    1. Thanks :)
      I can't believe what a difference such a small thing makes to the room - I wish I'd done it ages ago!

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  2. It looks lovely - I think I would be paranoid about the whole thing falling on my head when sleeping though! Maybe says more about my boyfriend's DIY skills haha :) x

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    1. To be fair, if I'd put it up there's no way I'd sleep easy! Thomas is much stronger than I am and more accurate with a drill, so I trust the shelf to stay put.

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  3. I must admit it had never occurred to me to put a shelf above my bed, but I really love this and I love how you have so many personal items on it. I did wonder about the K when I saw the photos :)

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    1. Thank you :) I'm really happy with how it turned out.

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  4. I love the way the books look suspended in mid air! So pretty and eclectic but also clean/not cluttered (if that make any sense!). Serious decor envy.

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    1. That floating shelf is ace, innit?! I got it online from The Literary Gift Company, it was quite simple to put up and I love how it looks.

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  5. I really love the shelf, SUCH a good idea! We have one of these in our front room, I should totally pile it with pictures! Ha, I got a birthday pressie in the post today and it was a Van Gough TARDIS bag- for some reason your shelf made me think of that!x

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    1. Van Gough Tardis? That sounds both amazing and strange!

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  6. Ah, your bedroom looks so cute and cosy!

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    1. I would quite happily spend my whole life in there!

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  7. That looks awesome. I've never really been a person who has lots of things on the wall because it's always THAT job that I don't get around to. But I went to a friend's house recently and there were prints and pictures everywhere and I loved it. Much like your fabulous shelf! Will need to take some inspiration from you I think :) Love the patriarchy print too.

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  8. All the best people have that bed you know ;-) I love the way you've arranged everything as well, very pretty methinks. We've been toying with the idea of putting up a picture frame above our bed, we've been meaning to do it for about 6 months but haven't got round to it yet. The only thing is, I hope you don't think I'd be some kind of weird stalker! :-s xx

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