Good Friday morning, my friends! And cheers to the weekend ahead!
Today I'd like to show you around my favorite room in the house - our living room, or what we now affectionately call the "library." This is where we gather to read (or type as I am at this moment) and it's also where I showcase our children's books. It's a sunny, "roomy" room, and we all seem to migrate here throughout the day to work on this and that, or just sit around and chat.
So it's taken some time, but I now have it set up to my liking - with a lot of (though certainly not all our) books, my desk and the kids' computer, as well as the baby's "stuff," because this is also Little Bear's main playroom. Not quite the "formal" room I originally envisioned, but then, our life isn't very formal these days anyway!
So, starting off at the doorway (entering from the foyer) ...
One of my favorite things about this room is that big picture window - my "window on the world" as it were. (It faces the front yard.) It would be a great spot for displaying picture books, except that the cats like to sit up here (birds rest in the shrubbery below) and I got tired of picking up all those felled books. Also, I find it's a nice spot for parking my laptop and planner/journal, folder, magazine etc. through the day. I can peruse it all when I have a moment to stop as I walk by with a baby on my hip. :)
Straight ahead is the liturgical bookshelf, which I showed you in an earlier post, but here are two new touches ...
A sheer embroidered valance, in a lovely Lenten hue ...
... and holy cards for this month's devotion (St. Joseph).
Now, just about everywhere I can fit them, I have books on display ...
This is an unfinished console table which will - now that it has a home - be painted a soft white this spring. It has some larger hardcovers displayed on top - illustrated by favorite authors like Tasha Tudor, Will Moses, and Charles Wysocki. And beneath the table are a couple of newer baskets I purchased at HomeGoods (around $15 each) holding seasonal collections ...
March books up front, of course.
(Most of these titles you can find listed along my blog's sidebars.)
Now, this is the coffee table that stands in front of the red-checked loveseat seen above, but I fear this picture is a bit misleading ...
Because I no longer display magazines here on this table, as much as I love to! I relish my magazines truly (they're my weakness, as you know), but so does Little Bear. He loves to cruise around the edge of this table and whatever is in his reach quickly becomes baby "fist fodder." So the magazines have been moved out-of-reach ...
Here's the back wall of the room ...
(And there's Bookworm home on spring break!)
My favorite seasonal poetry books line this wall ...
The thin edge of the wainscoating bordering the room is very convenient for displaying books!
A small table wedged between the chair and loveseat holds various necessities - tissues, lamp, led candle, kitty portrait, hot drink, baby monitor and, of course ... more books. Beneath the monitor are Little Bear's favorite board books of the moment.
A couple of baskets for blankets and colorful books, and a roomy tote bag for miscellaneous toys.
In the far corner of the room ... a playpen, another bookcase with "mama's" books (housekeeping, cookbooks, seasonal idea books, etc.), and that pretty rocker I told you about last week.
I love, love, love the light this room gets. Such a bright, happy spot for floor play.
Old-fashioned, softly drawn picture books to peruse together ...
A few hardcovers I especially adore ... books that must be shared with mama (or daddy). The top book though, First Meals, I am currently re-reading since Little Bear has moved into finger foods. :)
More special board books, more favorite authors: Gyo Fujikawa, Sibylle von Olfers and Eloise Wilkin ...
My "Mama" bookcase holds my favorite non-fiction books. I love to revisit them when I can - for information, ideas and inspiration!
The swing, parked beneath a sunny window. Truth be told, LB is outgrowing this already. He's just too "busy" these days to hang out in a swing very long. The braided rug beneath was made by Bill's grandmother, and you can see along the wall to the right of the window there are some more loverly books ... a great big hardcover all about the world of Peter Rabbit as well as my Flower Fairies collection and a few more Tasha Tudor books ...
You know, even when I don't have time to read (and that's true a lot these days) it does my soul good to be surrounded by books we treasure. And I think (hope) it sends a good message to my children ... books are important, they are to be valued and included in our everyday life.
The curtains, by the way - or maybe they're drapes, I'm not sure - were left here by the previous owners which was very generous. I just love them, but I have no idea how to care for them - they're kind of silky/satiny in texture? - and I would never have picked them out on my own. But I'm very glad to have them. :)
Remember my white desk from the old house? Well, here it is!
The computer actually belongs to the kids - or I guess I should say, Crackerjack since Bookworm is off at BC, and Earlybird has his own iPad. I never really sit down at this desk anyway - I'm more apt to work in a comfortable chair - though I do have it outfitted with my special things ...
A framed picture of our boys (our Christmas card from last year), with a jaunty wooden dragon standing beside. My boys have loved dragons since they were little ...
My basket of notecards and whatnot ... ribbons, stickers, etc.
Page-a-day calendars, mugs full of pencils and pens ... and of course, all kinds of books! I like to change the assortment here to reflect the current season/color of the month. Green-blue-aqua are the shades right now.
And of course, I have my file crate parked in this spot!
I love this little sign, a gift from Bill's mom ... it's so very true! The vintage paper in the lower lefthand corner is my homemade lesson planner - a very simple collection of spiral-bound sheets with a pretty cover.
Another row of books - they line every wall (just about)!
And here's the hearth wall, another spot for seasonal decor. Right now I have a rustic vase filled with pussy willows, a little pot of shamrocks ...
... a new "vintage-looking" sign ...
We love birch trees and the logs you see in the fireplace as well as on the mantel were from the river-wood by our old home. Years ago Bill found a fallen birch and collected some of the logs. The saw clock was painted by my late grandfather ...
And of course I have my pinecone tea set here in this room! Currently it set upon a handpainted tray which is resting on an ottoman beside the fireplace. I love how it looks here, but I fear it is not going to be here much longer, because this guy ...
... this little fella is starting to cruise around, and boy does he make a bee-line for that tea set!
:)
Ok, well we're finally done with the tour ... sorry it got so long! As you can probably tell, I do enjoy spending time in this room very much. In fact, as I finish this post I am sitting on the very rug pictured above - laptop in lap, baby by my side. He's itching for a change of venue however, so I must be off ...
But thanks so much for stopping by and joining me in my "library." I do hope you'll come again! In fact, I am planning to host a Spring Tea here later this month, so please keep your eyes peeled for your invitation!
And have yourselves a lovely Friday! See you here again very soon ...
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