Book Blessings

As the weather has gotten cooler, we're in the mood for fall decorating. I had a chair sitting at my front door which had mainly become a dumping ground for lots of junk.  I decided it could serve a decorative purpose instead (and cut off the clutter). So I pulled out a table runner thinking I'd maybe just put a pumpkin on the chair.  Then I remembered I had a decorative suitcase that hadn't yet found a home. Put it on the chair and opened it up (it has a brown velvety interior) and decided it was the perfect place to put our fall and Thanksgiving books.

I decided I could line the table runner inside the suitcase and the ends would still show on either side of the suitcase.  The cute little burlap and felt owl was a recent find at Dollar General (figured $3.50 was a pretty decent price). We aren't into creepy Halloween stuff like bats and skulls but I liked the fall colors on this owl and figured he was a fitting companion for a collection of books.

Our entry is really just part of our living room which is where a lot of reading happens so this was a super convenient place to display our books. I love the reds, yellows, and oranges on the book covers. And when Christmas rolls around, I'll swap out the table runner for something red and replace my owl with a little embroidered stocking and then just switch our harvest books for Christmas and winter titles.

So now I'm excited that I finally have a place for our seasonal books (they stay packed in tubs when out of season to help keep them special each year).  And I can even slide another basket of books under the chair for seasons with more books like Christmas.  In the summer when we don't have much in the way of holiday books, I think I'll use the suitcase for books to encourage summer reading. I may assign points to each book and let my kids can earn stickers toward small prizes (or a special ice cream outing).

Our collection was acquired over 20 years of marriage and most of the titles were found at thrift stores, Goodwill, garage sales, library sales or Paperback Swap [link contains my referral code]. I can only think of a few books that I purchased new.  If you'd like to find used book sales in your area of the U.S., check out Book Sale Finder.  Just click on your state to see locations for future sales. You can also sign up to get reminder e-mails for upcoming events.

I love finding new ways to use what we have and make use of tight spaces. Looking forward to snuggling in with my kids to read some of these great books!  We definitely count books as one of our biggest blessings!