Pictures of my house, starring my new econobookshelf and dining room wallpaper

I imagine that I am Not Alone in always needing more shelf space, and so I offer a tip to those reluctant to spend the money it takes to get a decent bookshelf--the shoe rack!  Below is my new shoe rack, bought at a thrift store for $4.99 (click to embiggen).  Light-weight (Will not damage anyone if it falls over on them! Easily tied to door handles with strong rope to keep falling from happening!) and easy to move, it can be stored in a closet once you've caught up on your reading, and brought out again when you come back from ALA or Book Expo America.

Here are all my current review copies, books waiting to be reviewed, and some miscellaneous tbr pile over flow.  So much better than keeping your books in the bathtub, which is what I was doing before the renovation of the dining room:

This is no longer an option, as the dining room renovation required that the bathtub go (since it had been installed sticking out into the dining room), so I appreciate my shoe rack lots.

Speaking of new bookshelves, and the dining room renovation, we did treat ourselves to a real new bookshelf...

and you can see our new color scheme and wallpaper nicely too (though the African bird might go--it's perhaps too ominous where it is...., and a picture must be hung in that empty space...)

And here is another dining room picture, just cause we like our new mirror so much:

And finally, here's the dining room, before:

Except that the floral loveliness was hidden behind 1970s fake paneling, and it all looked even worse!  Someday when we finish wallpapering (we've had to order more sigh sigh), I'll have a picture showing where the bathtub used to be....