Decorating by the Book

From an Andy (husband of Kate) Spade
art exhibition at French boutique Colette

I have a scrap (among many others, some of which I have blogged about) on my bulletin board with this quote attributed to the Roman author Cicero:

"A room without books is like a body without a soul."  

Amen.  

We moved houses recently, and the move has given me the chance to sort through and organize the books I've accumulated over the years, both for myself and for my children.  If you, like me, have children who will never keep the jackets on hardcover books in place and yet you can't bear to get rid of them so you have them stored in some closet, or shoved behind a bookcase or under some bed, you might like this idea as much as I do.  Here are a couple of quick examples I may use in my little boy's room.    

As an aside, I've found myself purchasing far fewer books in recent years, as many of my "reads" are actually listens (audiobooks).  At my law firm, the law library keeps shrinking and shrinking as we rely increasingly on the electronic over the tome.  But I will never stop loving the heft of a book in my hands and the turn of the pages on my fingers.  Nor will I ever get tired of the look of books.  

On a related idea, have you seen the artists who use pages from old books and even dictionaries as the canvas for their art?