Decorating Books

Ah, books. The mysterious, wonderful, warmth of books. Books bring so much character into a home and creates a timeless welcoming feeling. We used to cram our books into our shelves with little thought, but now? We use them to our advantage and style them to elevate our entire space. To me, a space isn't complete without books. French leatherbound books to be exact! They add so much texture and love. 

Shelving books is the most common approach, right? But place them strategically. A bust? put a book underneath! A box? but a book on the side of it! A painting? Put books in front! Seriously, the options are endless. Let your mind wander - place them horizontally, vertically, whatever speaks to you. There doesn't need to be a pattern throughout your shelves, and it doesn't need to be symmetrical (a hard thing to swallow for my OCD). My favorite advice is to start with the books, then layer against it. Fill the spaces with your personal touches - paintings, frames, statues, etc. This is a never-ending process, too! We are constantly refreshing our shelves with our newest favorite finds, and it's become one of my favorite things to do! 

Coffee table books are another classic - you will want these books to be quite a bit larger to make a statement on your table! Eye catching colors, beautiful images, and personal taste are important here. For me, we choose topics that are close to our hearts - Paris, Louisiana, and traveling. We always choose our accent color in our home, or something complementary to add a seamless touch.  

Kitchens with books? Yes please! We filled our kitchen with Cajun cookbooks! Doug and I are Louisiana born and raised, and the Cajun lifestyle is near and dear to my heart! Personalizing our kitchen with books that represent who we are at our core gives me so much joy! Of course, they need to match the aesthetic, but we love them all nonetheless. Adding books in this space gave us more texture to break up the backsplash and granite countertops, and also allowed us to style vases and peppermills on top of the books! 

Pro tip: start with the books.