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Bespoke Teak Bookends

November 20, 2012

One of the things that I took from The Happiness Project is to de-clutter or simplify my home. Part of that is to get rid of the stuff that I don’t use  and just keep in storage, thereby wasting physical and mental space. There are many ways to do this, I can either sell, donate or dispose. One of the other more creative ways I learned is to display items that have emotional significance, instead of keeping them wrapped up. 

The sample pegs Danni gave me when I told him what I wanted

TD is surprisingly sentimental with certain items and he had a box of items that we went through. They were only a few items…

  1. A grade school plaque – which we stashed with all the other plaques at the in-laws
  2. Luke Skywalker toy – which he has decided to let go off
  3. Basketball Medal –
  4. Spanish Civil War bombshell from his grandfather
  5. Egg made of Russian Ruble from his mom, when they were living in Russia
I figured that for us, the best way for # 3-5 was to figure out a way to “store and display” them by making them into useful items in my husband’s office, like bookends! This way, not only does he get something that is useful in his office, but he also gets to see and enjoy his keepsakes daily. This is the finished product for the coin egg and the bomb.

This is how it looks with some books. I can’t wait to find a spot for it in TD’s office!

I absolutely love the idea of bespoke solid teak bookends for keepsakes. So many advantages:

  • Frees up storage space
  • You get something useful – I can never have enough bookends!
  • Beautiful, personalized bookends aren’t just beautiful but have greater value because they hold something with sentimental value
  • Brilliant storage & display idea. Not only are your storing and displaying keepsakes but you are also giving it another purpose.

I have a great idea for the medal, but I’m still trying to see how to pull it off.  It’s going to be another bookend, but I want to have it enclosed with glass so that I don’t have to think of cleaning or dusting the straps. The bomb and egg above are not as bad dust-magnets and are pretty easy to clean. Will keep you posted once the medal is up.

What did you think of this idea? Do you have other useful store-and-display ideas that you have tried (or want to try) in your home? I would love to hear about it!

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Furniture by DANNI ROESTAM

  • Mobile: +62 818 863326
  • Email: danni.roestam@gmail.com
  • Showroom: Jalan Ir. H. Juanda no 86, Situgintung, Ciputat 15419, Tangerang, Indonesia
  • Check out other furniture Danni made for me here!

2 Comments · Diplo Home, jakarta shopping

Comments

  1. Joy says

    November 21, 2012 at 7:05 PM

    What a chic and cool way to display sentimental items…lovely idea.

    Reply
    • diplomaticwife says

      November 22, 2012 at 4:24 PM

      Thanks for the compliment and dropping me a line Joy! =)

      Reply

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Welcome

Hello! I’m Ayessa, trailing spouse to a diplomat, mama to DiploBaby and DiploDog and founder of Declutter MNL. I love talking about how to achieve a minimaluxe lifestyle one step at a time.

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