home accessories

Rabu, 04 Agustus 2010

Decorating with Books

My husband and I both love reading, and accordingly, have amassed quite a collection of books over the years. We made sure when designing our new house to have lots of built-in bookcases to house all of our books. When we moved, I swear most of our boxes were filled with books. I am definitely a “real book” reader- haven’t even tried the Kimble or whatever its called because I just love the feel of a book in my hand and, when I read in bed, I just prefer holding an actual book and turning the pages. Old-fashioned? Probably, but I like it that way.

And I love decorating with books. You can tell a lot by a person by the books they read. In my house, you would guess I’m into God/religion/spirituality, decor, parenting/babies, fashion, and cooking. My husband’s books are all about business, law, and history.

I’ve gotten a lot of inspiration for decorating with books from blogland and I especially love those “rainbow” bookshelves and wanted to try my hand at it. I’m pretty familiar with my books, so I’m sure I won’t have any trouble locating them even though they aren’t categorized by subject.

Here’s my rainbow bookshelf in the upstairs hallway. All I did was group the books into rainbow order by their spines and then arrange them on the shelf. I reworked it a couple of times, and ended up with this:

Here’s the close up:

Here are a few other places in my home that I’ve used books as decor.

Living Room

Kitchen

James’ Nursery

Here are some of my inspiration images:

*Flicker via Chotda

Eccentric Scholar via Apartment Therapy

*Malene Charles & Christine Martinez (both via Design Sponge)

*Erin Gates former home. Elements of Style

*Kelly Doust via Design Sponge

*Leah Richardson

*David Jimenez

*J Crew

*First image via science blogs.

*********

I’m sharing this post with these fabulous blogs:

A Few of My Favorite Things * All Thingz Related * Blue Cricket Design * C.R.A.F.T. * Fingerprints on the Fridge * Infarrantly Creative * Just A Girl * Keeping it Simple * Mad in Crafts * Me and My Bucket * Miss Mustard Seed * New Nostalgia * Remodelaholic * Seven Thirty Three * Serenity Now * Super Stinky Boys * Tatertots and Jello * The Inspired Room * The Shabby Chic Cottage * The Shabby Nest * Thrifty Decor Chick * Today’s Creative Blog * Under the Table and Dreaming

and at these parties.

Shine On Me...

I L-O-V-E, love, love this light by Ironware International...

They have other pretties too....

You there, get in the cart with the first light....

More @ Ironware International

Selasa, 03 Agustus 2010

Baby James {5 Months}

There is absolutely nothing better in the whole wide world than a baby. I am so in love and just smitten. My son has amazed me this last month. He’s found his toes and is fascinated by them- takes every opportunity to grab them and pull them toward his face. He’s babbling up a LOUD storm. By the way, he’s sleeping in his crib now. We didn’t have room to set up the crib in our old townhouse, so he was sleeping in his pack-n-play. His nursery is about 5 feet from my bedroom and I hear him talking to himself (so cute!) every morning at about 6 a.m. Our wake up time is 7 a.m., so he usually will fall back asleep after telling himself a few stories. He also is grasping things better, like his pacifier, which he pulls out of his mouth and then tries to put back in. He grabs at his bottle now too and tries to hold it while I feed him. He still loves bathtime- smiles as soon as he feels the washcloth on his face. He’s starting to roll over and is at that very beginning crawling stage.

James loves:

Itsy-bitsy spider song
paddy-cake
t.v.! I try not to have it on too much when we’re hanging out, but if he sees it, he’s mesmerized. He was especially into the soccer games recently.
blowing bubbles with his mouth
touching and grabbing faces
the exersaucer!

He also cried real tears for the first time- I almost died. He’s eating at 7, 11, 3, and 7. He has started rice cereal and a few fruits and sweet potatoes, which he really likes. He typically naps from 9-11 and 1-3, sometimes also around 5. Bedtime is between 7 and 7:30. He still sleeps through the night. Thank the Lord:)

I love his baseball pj’s.

He’s a regular at Starbuck’s.

Toes!

Mama’s helper in the kitchen.

Flirt!

So happy!

She's Baaaaack

In honor Rachel Zoe and crew (minus my fave Taylor) returning to television tonight I thought to take a look at some of her looks for QVC...

More clothes, bags and accessories @ QVC

Senin, 02 Agustus 2010

Lovely Lacquer Boxes

I find myself coveting these beautiful, sleek, shiny boxes all the time. But they come with a ridiculous price-tag, so when I found this lilac one below on sale! at West Elm, I knew it had to be mine! I love that she comes with a pretty key:)