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Monday, October 23, 2017

Ways to Use Books in Your Decor



The house my grandmother lived in when I was growing up, had a library. A whole wall of books, complete with a library ladder. A real life library ladder. There were many reenactments of Belle, (from Beauty and the Beast, duh.) singing about adventure, a few rungs up on that library ladder.  

My sister and I always played in the library, and now as adults, share a love of the intoxicating smell of books. If you find either of us in a bookstore, book fair, or a library, you will see us smelling the books. 

I'm not sure if it has anything to do with our childhood playtime in our Car Car's library, but I still prefer a book over my kindle. My kindle doesn't smell, or feel like a book. Yes, it has a dictionary, can fit well in my purse, and it can sync with my phone. But it also tells me my location, instead of page number, which doesn't actually help me thank you very much, and it runs out of batteries at the critical part of the story, because I forgot to charge it. Because BOOKS don't need to be charged. 
Call me old fashioned, it's fine. 

Again, maybe it's deep in my subconscious or something, but I also use books a lot in my decor. Here's a few photos, both from our yellow house, as well as some inspiration I've found browsing Pinterest. 


That's my Car Car in the picture inside the bookcase.

This side table is a hodge podge of photo albums, old books and new ones.
If you take the jacket off of a hardcover book, even a new book, it immediately gives it more character. Some of the books in this case were purchased at goodwill, or a thrift shop, and some are books we've personally read, and saved.

If you have books you don't care for the color of, or you don't feel like are decorative/pretty enough, you can just flip them around. I actually like the look of the pages showing here and there. It changes up the textures, which I think looks good. 

This bookshelf is styled beautifully, but only using books with the spines facing backwards. 
Avert your eyes, librarians! 

Visit the blog: Made by Katy.

Or, you can wrap them,
like I did on my fall mantel:


I used plain, thin paper to wrap these, but brown craft paper, or wrapping paper would look great too. (Buffalo checked paper for my Christmas mantel.....It's happening.)

These books were wrapped in linen:

This photo is from Juniper books.


This is from our entry area.


We didn't really have the space for a floor lamp, but we really wanted a lamp that could give light over the back of the sectional. I used these books to give it some height. I wrapped the books on the right in jute to "bring them together", both actually and decoratively. Those three books don't have anything in common really so the jute just makes it work, in my opinion. 


On my sofa table, I used some orange books to compliment the color of the pumpkin I used in my old tool box. Orange isn't a color I really ever use, except for during fall. 




These books are complimentary to the colors used in my pillows, and the slipcover on the sofa. 


Any trip I make to Goodwill, or similar shop, I'm always on the hunt for blue books. 
These books above the TV compliment the rug, and the pillows. 

Blue books. All the blue books. 



Like the sofa table, this lamp just needed some height. I used an old dictionary, and an old seminary textbook since this is the "office" area. (It's actually in the middle of the house.) 

No full wall bookshelves with ladders (yet), but lots of books added here and there. Used practically, to add height, or decoratively to add color. 

I hope this post encourages you to use something you probably already have-books!-in your decor, and maybe spruce up a space or two in your home before the Christmas decorations come out!! 
Too soon? Maybe. I'm getting so excited! 

Have a great week, and thank you so much for reading. XO, Steph

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