[...CLICK for more article goodness!---->] Floor-to-Ceiling – INSPIRATION! We are a family of readers. There are 6 of us right now in our happy clan, and every one down to the smallest lil’ person in our group enjoys spending much time in the middle of a book. I’ve even been wondering about working more with our 8 month old baby girl with reading after seeing this infomercial! When you have that many people in one space reading, then you probably have a lot of books. I know that we do, and we seem to acquire more all the time. We see that as a GREAT thing, though! There’s just not enough places to keep them! I figure that I would share some pictures of shelving that inspires me…and hope that hubby will see this and put it away in his mind for one day when we can take on this project.

I am just loving the rustic opulent feel to the above picture! I have always described wanting to design our whole home in a Rustic Opulence style. So if you were to see our living room, maybe you’d know what I mean when I say that. We have a HUGE solid oak mantle that weighs about 3 hundred pounds. It has that rough, hand-hewn look and is unstained…and it has the same wood going around it to the floor. I always meant for the construction dudes to beef up the bottom sides even more, but it never turned out quite the way I had envisioned because the money ran out. In that same room, though, there are 3 chandeliers that are antique repros and even have some crystal-action bling-bling going on. Our walls are a golden yellow color…the ceilings are a metallic bronze…and the floors in here (as they are all through the entire house) are dark, wide plank solid wood. So now do you see what I mean by rustic opulence?

So back to the picture above: look at the super basic built-in bookshelving…and then to the really awesomely ornate mirror stealing the show up front. I love both the combination and contrast this team of style produces!

The rest of these pictures aren’t as rusticly opulent, but each one speaks to me in its own way.

Love the blue!

And check THIS out! How is that for putting good forethought into the design of these bookshelves? It makes such a bold statement…and I love what it’s saying.

I am really loving the insides of these bookshelves painted a different color than the walls or the shelves themselves! And can you ever truly have enough pink?

That is a nice touch to have! Check out those pull out table top thingie-muhflops! I love that option.

This is a super smart idea: turn your closet into a mini walk-in library! And again – paint a different color behind the shelves for a bold backdrop.

So this is our crazy space that we will hopefully be working floor-to-ceiling bookshelves into someday.  That side of the living room has too much going on in it. Hubby is lost in Casablanca while I snapped some quick shots. You see the big TV? It’s for sale on CraigsList.  The huge window faces the front of the home…and as you can see, there’s a fairly good sized window similar to it just to the right. I’m curious about flanking wall-to-ceiling bookshelves in here on either side of the biggest window and into that right-hand corner.

And speaking of these shots: some photog expert please tell me why my new lens filter is creating green pixies in our living room? I see that it’s reflecting the chandelier light in a wonky fashion – and I’m wondering what I can do to change that (short of taking the filter off each time I get some shots in here at night).

Back to this project: it’s definitely going to be shelved for now. As I type this, we are fighting for our home and trying to do what we can do to keep away from foreclosure. I know that many people in our country are dealing with the same thing right now, so many of you reading this will know where I’m coming from. I just figure that a girl can dream, right? And hopefully soon we will be back to normal and I will be able to make changes to our home as we can afford it. It never hurts to have your ideas together and know what you want before you take that next step!

Speaking of foreclosures, I wanted to share a neat article that  a nice lady named Christi wrote as she and her family have actually gone through that already. She has a wonderful attitude about it, though! My heart goes out to anyone going through this right now or even being threatened by it. It creates an untold amount of stress in the family it overshadows, and I pray for grace and peace and wisdom for anyone carrying that load.

What types of bookshelves do you have in YOUR home? Do share!

Photo credits: Traditional Home, BH&G, DecorPad, Gianni Botsford, RemodelingCenter

I’ve recently acquired some wonderful things from a childhood friend.

Her mother was ridding her bedroom of many, many beautiful books. I was personally invited to take a look and take whatever caught my eye.

The room was slam FULL of beauties just as you see here! I just love how the hardbacks are well loved and

[...CLICK for more article goodness!---->] Books Galore!

I’ve recently acquired some wonderful things from a childhood friend.

Her mother was ridding her bedroom of many, many beautiful books. I was personally invited to take a look and take whatever caught my eye.

The room was slam FULL of beauties just as you see here! I just love how the hardbacks are well loved and worn. They have great texture! I love the distressed pages! I promised myself to be careful with their delicate covers and interiors.

She had soooo many cookbooks – and beautiful books about farming, practical living, herbal knowledge, self sustained lifestyles and the like.

I was loving it ALL. Unfortunately, hubby wasn’t as in love as I was, though he DID admit that he doesn’t mind me getting so many books – even though we don’t have anywhere to put them all right now. “Our family will definitely benefit from all the extra good cooking coming from the kitchen as a result of this!”, he said heartily.

I am sure that I will be able to talk him into reading through some of these about farming and learning more homesteading skillz. We need all the help we can get! I will definitely have my children read through these for nifty homeschooling assignments, too. They will learn a lot – and learn it young, so it’s all the better!

I wonder how long it will take me to go through them all?

Even if I never cooked a single dish from these books, I think that stacks of these make an interesting focal point on the reading table.

But nevermind that! You can COUNT on me cooking from these! I am excited to learn new things!

…And I’m just about ready to go back for more books!