Organising a functional and aesthetic shelf for 2 monkeys 🙉🙊

Eclectic
HDB (Resale)
~1,100 sqft
3 br
Couple Living

As 2 creatives, both of us are always looking for inspiration in any way we can and over the years, we have accumulated quite a lot of things that help our fire burn a little bit brighter. ❤️‍🔥 One category of those things is books! 📖We have come to love and appreciate good books that inspire and have collected a myriad of them, such as design books, fashion/interior magazines, novels and even comics! 📚
But this has resulted in one problem, a messy disorganised shelf and many books scattered in various boxes around the house. Who here has this problem too? 🙋🏻‍♂️ Here’s how our work shelf looks like after 2 months of neglect and with many of our other books hidden in boxes around our home. Pretty messy by our standards and also the lack of organisation means it’s difficult for either of us to use the shelf properly. 😮‍💨 We have books, notebooks, some tech and somehow some of our cat’s stuff on it adding to the headache.
To help us figure out how we could use the shelf in an ideal way, we hit the books (or in this case our iPad). ✏️ N sketched out some ideas of how we could use the shelf and also planned how we could add on and switch up the functionality of the shelf based on our work flow. 💡Tip: One of the ways we visualise ideas quickly is to take a photo and sketch over it. This helps to make the process of organising quicker as well because you already know where everything is gonna go!
With the blueprint in hand, rearranging the shelf took just under 5 minutes! ⏱️ Starting from the bottom shelf, its an area where our cat will jump on to sleep sometimes so having a throw there helps to hide the boxes beneath as well as give her a comfy place to sleep. 🐈‍⬛ In the middle section, some of our books are arranged there so that we can access them easily for inspiration or referencing and due to the limited space, we periodically switch out the books so we always have variety. 📕📗📘📙 In the top section, we have our home essentials which make up the mood of our work space. A speaker which plays lo-fi and house tunes to get us into the zone, a nice big clock for us to stare at when we want to destress and an oil diffuser to keep our space smelling fresh like a forest. 🌲 💡Tip: Give each section of your shelf a purpose that fits into your workflow and allow each section to hold most of your essential items first before thinking of decor! This will make your shelf more efficient and also improve your productivity.
J is a big fan of Murakami and has picked out some of her favourite books of his to place on the shelf. Can you guess which book is N’s favourite? 👀
Although this is a shelf in our work space, it doesn’t mean all work and no play! We got this candle holder from objects.re recently and have been using it for multiple purposes. Sometimes a candle holder, sometimes a paper weight, but this time a bookend. 😬 💡Tip: Explore other ways of utilising items besides their intended purpose! This might bring new ideas and freshness to areas which you’ve never thought of before!
One of the highlights of our shelf, this Twemco Clock has been in our sights and our possession since we started posting on Hipvan last year! 😂 We love the bright yellow of the clock and also the flip mechanics which makes us anticipate the moment when the time changes!
We hope that you’ve enjoy our sharing of how we organise our shelf and thanks for reading till the end! Share with us what ideas you have for your shelves and work space, we’d love to know! ☺️ Hope this helps inspire you to do a little bit of a reorganisation around your home! Do give us a follow on IG @2monkeyshouse for more content! 🏠