Nook for Books

I’ve always wanted a library in my house, but the closest I’ve ever come to owning a house has been a camp trailer. I love words and books, and I have always held high hopes for a room dedicated unto them… a quiet haven of education painted white -the books would be the paint on the canvas. There would be soft chairs and lots of natural light. I’d always pictured little kids in it, and I realized a few days ago that my kids are scooting OUT of little kid land.
I made a quick decision to bring my little dream into something of a reality. If they can’t have a literary haven, they shall at least have a tiny Book Nook.

I went to the hardware store and came out with a shelf bracket (is that what they’re called? I don’t make enough shelves to know. Or any shelves at all) for $2. After staring at it for a few days, I finally got brave and put it up.
There’s something really empowering about drilling things into the wall, even if you have to spend 30 minutes scouring the house for a dead drill to get there.
I tossed on a burlap table runner and remnants of a lace tablecloth we’d cut up and used in my sister’s reception. I secured the burlap on the ground with a brick broken in half, found at Grandpa’s farm (compliments of Lacy).
We hung a little shelf that my grandmother gave Lacy (and which Lacy painted). We threw in a pretty pillow -again, compliments of Granny. The rug is one I purchased because I fell in love with it… but it went NOWHERE in the house, so it sat sadly in the closet until yesterday (I KNEW it was right to keep it, I just knew it).

My brother Jim found a broken little bottle, and we filled it with fractionated coconut oil and lemongrass essential oils, threw in some skewers to soak up that good smell, aaaaaaaaaand lastly, we took a basket given to our family by our friend, Laurel Anne, and filled it with some of our favorite books.

The kids LOVE it. Their corner is cozy and snug and hides behind the big recliner. I’d like to add some twinkle lights someday, but that day is not yet.

(That picture is not staged at all. It came after a “why are the kids so quiet?” moment. And they WEREN’T using my nail polish to paint on the walls! Aw.)

I made Hawaiian Haystacks last night, and as we dished up dinner I said, “Daddy and I used to make this dish for dinner all the time when we were first married and it was just the two of us.”
“Where was that?” Lacy asked.
“Thatcher,” I said.
“What’s a Thatcher?” Trent asked.
“No, it’s a place,” Danny said, “We LIVED in Thatcher, Arizona.”
“But actually a thatcher is someone who fixes roofs,” I said, “Like in that movie…”

AND that’s how we went from Hawaiian Haystacks to Heath Ledger in less than 45 seconds. We curled up together and watched, “A Knight’s Tale” for the first time as a family of 5.
Trent said, “I LOVE THIS. Are there more episodes?”
If only, man. If only.

This morning he jumped on my bed with the DVD case of said movie in hand, “Alice wants to watch this,” he said.
Ha! Don’t try that old trick on me! I use it ALL THE TIME.
“Alice wants this chocolate. Alice wants this movie. Alice wants to nap.”
Using the BABY to get what you want is the OLDEST TRICK.

We’ll probably watch it again tonight though -because that movie truly is one of the best.

Tent Reading Nook Inspired by THIS POST.