Home Is Where My Books Are

When we moved into this house, we had big painting plans for the kitchen, the living room, the dining room, and the upstairs bathroom. Consequently we didn’t pay a lot of attention to our furniture arrangement and interior decorating. However, the kitchen is taking a little longer than anticipated and everything else has been put on hold until that project is done.

After a while I got fed up with the mess downstairs and started moving the couch and the chairs around. And having my parents-in-law over for dinner seemed like a legitimate reason to put my handmade, solid oak, shipped halfway across the world, inconveniently large square dining room table together. And so, slowly but surely, we were turning our house into a home. The only things missing were art on the walls and books in the bookcases.

Ryan took on the garage this weekend to make room for the cars. Most of what was in there had already found its way into the house but there were a few boxes and some pieces of furniture left. The boxes contained my books. At first I wanted to stack the boxes in the entryway and wait until the living room was painted before I put the books away. But when I looked around at the Christmas tree and the decorations Lola and I have put up, it just felt right to put the books in the bookcases instead.

When we are ready to paint the living room I’ll move the books again, it’s not that much extra work. And the difference they make is amazing. Books give a room character. I put up some pictures too while I was at it. And just like that, we created a home.