Accessorizing a Wall Unit

One of my clients is steadily moving from room to room - updating & decorating her home. She & her husband purchased this Ikea wall unit - then didn't quite know what to do with it. {Which is very common & perfectly understandable!}

For one thing, this baby has 25 cubes in it! That can be overwhelming. TIP: As you can see, you don't have to fill all the cubes. In fact, I would recommend that you don't. We added accessories to every other compartment & I feel like that was perfect. 

The adjoining room {pictured below} has a beautiful tan, blue & orange color scheme, so I wanted to continue with the same accent colors. It has some seaside accessories which I also extended  into the wall unit - without making it too "themey".

The space with the wall unit is actually a formal dining room that is used as a music room. It is where the children take their piano & violin lessons. The client was using the unit to store music books - as well as her cook books. Since none of the books are very attractive, we opted for these baskets from Target to contain & organize them. {She's buying one more basket.} The plan is to arrange the baskets in a zigzag pattern.

ANOTHER TIP: Pretty books are marvelous for varying the heights of accessories. When more than one object is being displayed, it is nice to elevate the accessory in the back a bit & put another in the front {as with the two plants above}. I thought the orange & white pot looked even better with the white books under it. 

A challenge was finding accessories in the right kind of orange. The living room has burnt orange accents. A lot that is available in stores right now is a brighter hue. So after shopping six stores,  I resorted to desperate measures - I made my own letter {which is the initial of the family's last name of course}. Luckily paint can be purchased in just about ANY color. So I found this paper mache' letter at the craft store. It wasn't until I got it home & painted it that I discover it didn't stand up! So I went back for a little wooden base {70 cents}, painted it too & glued them together. 

 Of course, this beautiful rug added some interest to a room with nothing in the middle. And I love these comfy occasional chairs from Target. The music teachers can use them to sit it or they can be moved into the living room as needed for additional seating. 

The nice part is that we didn't have to pay a lot for anything. Home Goods & Target were great resources for this project.