Gifted

I colored coded my bookshelves during our Thanksgiving break. Because I was moving furniture (TV to living room, sideboard to bedroom - now a "craft station", tall shelf behind door, big shelf to different wall), I had to take all the books off the shelves. Annie was my helpful helper! We even used a hairdryer to dust some of the books, 'cause all those stacks were dust towers. When it came time to put the books back on the shelves, I had the idea to color code them (based on both my friend Elizabeth's amazing floor to ceiling shelves and something on somebody's random blog AND my aunt Sherry's amazing book room, previously mentioned on this blog). The end result is Book Love City! I put all of the white, black, pink & purple books on my tall shelf behind the door. I also put most of my knick knacks and picture frames on the shelves with white books. It makes for a less cluttered, more pleasing look. So, I'm happy with that project. The shelf in the picture is my big shelf. It's solid wood, a beautiful mapley color, and I bought it 7 years ago at my across-the-street neighbor's garage sale for $25. What a find.

One of my favorite book sets (visible in the photo - top shelf, middle, green with silver titles) is a collection of Louisa May Alcott's novels: Little Women, Little Men, Under the Lilacs and all the rest. I received this set for Christmas back in 1980. I was eight years old ... and I still recall how grown-up I felt at receiving such thick important books. The gift made me feel like a serious reader, and that night, I sat in the living room recliner (gold, as I recall) under the glow of a hanging lamp and started Little Women. Thanks again, Mom and Dad, for the gift of reading and beautiful green books. I've kept those books for 30 years and plan to keep them for another 30! Annie isn't quite ready for the Alcott novels, but I'm thinking about having her read Betsy and Tacy Betsy-Tacy [;)], the first in Maud Hart Lovelace's beloved series this Christmas. So fun to pass on cherished favorites.