Etsy Find of the Day: Live Edge Shelves

Washington, D.C., woodworker and Etsy seller A. Drauglis hand crafts simple but beautiful shelves that celebrate the natural form of the wood from which they're made: The surfaces are cut clean and scraped smooth, but the edges are left as nature made them, tree bark and all.

The result is something that would be equally at home in a rustic cabin, a minimalist loft, or a "zen modern" home.

Drauglis' shelves come in a variety of sizes, configurations, and wood species, including the walnut-and-mimosa No. 1, $40, top; the cherry No. 12, $75, above; and the curly maple No. 13, $60, below.

Visit Drauglis' Etsy shop right here, and see some of his hand-crafted furniture and other large pieces here.

Cool Stuff: Tree Dimensional Shelf

I could grow to love this.

From Lisbon design firm Zaum.

Shameless Plug: My "Shelf Decorating Guide" on HGTV

My latest opus for HGTV.com: "Transform bland bookcases and wall shelves into stunning displays with 13 top-shelf decorating tips from interior designers."

You can read the article right here.

(Hint: Sharp-eyed readers may recognize one of the interior designers I quoted, Megan Samuels, as the blogger behind the always lovely and amusing BeachBungalow8.)

And don't miss all the great shots of viewers' beautifully accessorized shelves pulled from the new HGTV Decorating flickr pool. There's lots of wonderful, real-life inspiration to be found there.

By the way, apologies for all of the "shameless plugs" I've subjected you to of late. I promise that after one more article goes up shortly, it will be very, very quiet on the self-promoting front for awhile ...

(Any editors out there? Call me! ;-)

Book Giveaway!

I’m wrapping up an article on how to “Feng Shui Your Bedroom” for HGTV, and have a stack of feng shui books that I’ve been reading for reference.

Following the good feng shui practice of clearing the clutter and passing along the items you no longer need, I’d decided to give the books away to my blog readers -- and to get some food for thought for my next HGTV assignments at the same time.

(The titles I’m giving away include Feng Shui Your Life by Jayme Barrett, Feng Shui for Dummies by David Daniel Kennedy, The Western Guide to Feng Shui Room by Room by Terah Kathryn Collins, The Everything Feng Shui Book by Katina Z. Jones, and Feng Shui Dos & Taboos by Angi Ma Wong.)

Here’s the deal: I’m gathering ideas for a pair of HGTV articles on how to accessorize coffee tables and shelves. So email me a good-quality digital photo of a coffee table-scape, a floating shelf accessory arrangement, or a bookshelf vignette that you’ve done, along with a brief write-up of how you chose the accessories you did and how you came up with the arrangement (your first name and general location would be helpful as well). Deadline: Monday, June 25.

I’ll share five great ideas here on the blog (and possibly in the HGTV article as well) and send an almost brand-new feng shui book to each of the generous souls who contributed them.

Looking forward to seeing your design genius at work!