ACCENTS | DISPL AY C ABINETS/BOOKSHELVES
THE REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
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Be a showoff Bookshelves and display cases are fabulous ways to showcase your taste and treasured items to the world. What better way to bring attention these items than with a piece of display furniture that ups the ante and makes them even more of a focal point? The Real Estate Journal spoke with Daniel Hwang, general manager of Betterday Guam, a home store which opened recently in Tamuning and specializes in IKEA furnishings. Betterday Guam carries an assortment of bookshelves and display cases and Hwang told REJ that “Normally new shipments come once or twice a month. If customers subscribe to our website, they will get a newsletter when new items arrive.” Customers can view items at www.betterdayguam.com. “Because of space limitations, we don’t display all of the furniture
Display shelves give a room focus.
items that we have in the store, but you can see all of our products on the website,” he said. Displaying books and treasured items in your home can be a great way for homeowners to express themselves and also for guests to get to know the homeowner on a different level. Hwang suggests several ways to use these furniture accent pieces in the home. “Organizing by genre is the basis of book organization,” he said. “But regardless of the field or height of the book, you can organize the book by color first.” Placing books with like colors offers organization and neatness in the bookcase. Books should all face the same direction so that titles can be read by those perusing the shelves. “The basic principle is to store books standing up instead of lying down,” Hwang said. “But in the case of a wide bookcase, it is easy
for books to collapse to one side like dominoes.” He suggests using bookends to alleviate this issue. “If you don’t have a bookend or if you’re burdened to buy multiple bookends, you can store books horizontally.” Another great way to display books is to stand them up and place them upright like photo frames. “This is great for books with beautiful covers,” he said. Different kinds of bookshelves can offer different styles of placement. “Floating bookshelves are impressive and are useful in small spaces or placed near your favorite couch or lounge seat,” Hwang said. A floating bookshelf doesn’t have the traditional frame of a bookcase and instead looks like a floating stack of shelves. “It is a bookshelf that looks good even if you put the book roughly on the shelf,” he said. For showcasing treasured
items in a display case, depending on what type of treasured item is, the placement of the display varies, Hwang said. He suggests displaying items like trophies and souvenirs in the living room or study and items like jewelry and accessories in your bedroom. “Smaller items can be displayed on shelves or in glass cabinets but hunting trophies and sports memorabilia or trophies should be displayed on walls. “A glass shelf is recommended if you want to display treasured items on a shelf or cabinet. This is because glass has the power to make displayed products stand out. Furthermore, a cabinet with a glass door is a great style for exhibiting treasured items because it can display items while protecting the product from dust and possible damage.” p
