BOOKS, BEAUTIFUL BOOKS

My morning began with a 5 am phone call from my mother’s 80-year-old cousin who was having serious back pains, and wanted to know if I thought she should go the Emergency Room. She said her doctor, whom she had been seeing about a disk problem, is out of town this week.

I told her that if the only alternative was doing nothing, the Emergency Room might be a good idea. About 6 phone calls and 3 hours later, she painfully got ready, dressed and called for an ambulance.

Since I spent all day yesterday working on Sue’s story (2 photos above and one below were taken in her garden) and working on a surprise new project, today I planned to catch up on my blog mail and post about Decorating With Books.

I think Sue’s story really captures both her personality and style but I’ll leave it alone for a day, then re-read it to see if I still think it’s ready to fly. After that, I need to write the acknowledgements and add a few new captions to the Introduction. Then, the book is done.

After responding to message from a French blogger, I found myself checking out the blog of a British woman who has several chickens in her backyard, which led me to an Australian site. I feel as if I’ve taken a mini-vacation while drinking my (second) cup of morning tea.

I’ve wanted to write about books since I read A Focus On Books, posted on June 11th by Clare of Vintage-Home (vintage-home.blogspot.com). The post features dozens of stunning vintage books displayed with style. Check it out.

Then, several weeks ago when I was at Fabulous Fifi’s (www.fabulousfifi.typepad.com) cottage in Sarasota, Fifi and I chatted about What To Do With An Ever-Growing Stash Of Books.

I snapped some photos. Here's my take on Decorating With Books:

1- Two short stacks look nicer than one tall one.

2-Never buy furniture that cannot hold a stack of books.
3-Tuck baskets under and next to tables when you run out of space.

4- Color coordinating your books is the key to visually attractive displays.

5- When your books won’t cooperate, you can always make pretty book covers. Photo by Dan Mayers.

What’s your best trick?


*** BLOG DU JOUR ***

I’d like to introduce you to Barbara. We discovered each other several weeks ago. She’s currently traveling around Britain, so you will have time to catch up with her older posts on Ramblings From An English Garden before she returns. Barbara is an avid gardener and has a “cheeky” outlook on life.