Hello sweet friends! Welcome to A Lifestyle of Love hosted by Country Road 407. This blog hop is all about vintage, farmhouse, antiques, and repurposing. So if that is your style this post on how to decorate with books is for you! I am currently transitioning our home from spring to summer decorating. To me, summer is all about books! A paperback on the beach, classic tales in the hammock and so much more. Here are several ways to feature Vintage Book Decor.
Vintage Book Decor
If you are visiting from Sweet Pea let me say “Welcome!” Isn’t Paula’s rustic pipe bookshelf fabulous?
Can one have too many books? No, Marie Kondo, there can never be enough books! Here at Storybook Cottage, we outgrew our bookcases long ago. So it was then necessary to use books in a wide variety of creative ways.
Who says a plate hutch has to hold plates?
Stacks of books can elevate small objects and make them seem important.
Remember Readers Digest books? I inherited my grandparent’s collection. The covers come in all sorts of colors that I rotate seasonally.
Another hutch! While this one holds a few more plates it also features books on the bottom shelf.
Big coffee table books look great on…coffee tables! But they are also great for balancing other decorative objects on uneven surfaces like seagrass trays.
Or rattan and wicker trays.
A little side table benefits from two books, a plate, and a box.
Mantels were made for books! Over the years I have decorated dozens of mantels and many have featured books.
I am sharing this particular book mantel decor because I know our hostess also loves Jane Austen.
For me, I always plan my decor based on themes.
Books always play a key role at StoryBOOK Cottage.
Beachy Book Decor
Some people think that books are visually heavy. That they should be reserved for fall and winter decor. I don’t subscribe to that thought!
If they are cheap thrift store paperbacks just rip the covers right off to lighten the look.
But hardback books can also work in cool summer colors.
I’m currently still working through chocolate Easter eggs but pretending they are aquatic pearls.
Even a single book can say so much.
In this vignette, it groups all the items together.
My favorite books are old classics I find for pennies at estate sales.
Do you use books in your decor?
Laura
Please be sure to visit the sites below for more ideas on how to decorate with books.
You have such a sweet collection of books. You are masterful at creating your themes. I love the Jane Austen mantel.
So many beautiful ways to display books, Laura! I’m totally with you – there is no such thing as too many books 🙂 I love that you have your grandparents collection and how you display them in those gorgeous hutches too. Hope your Mother’s Day weekend is fantastic. Hugs, CoCo
Love all of your ideas for decorating with books. Looks like you have a love of using trays in vignettes like me! Happy Mother’s Day!
Hi Laura, I’m visiting from Sweet Pea. I LOVE that first hutch–and even have one of the same books as you! (Adventures at Friendly Farm with the pretty green cover.) I really like how you display some of the lovely artwork on the covers.. And what fun “aquatic pearls” you have! lol I also really like that tray in the last photo. I’ve been thinking about what to put in the bottom of a thrift store tray I found, and a pretty map might be just the thing. Nice post. Nice vignettes. Thanks for sharing!
You have so many pretty displays using your books, Laura. I so much enjoyed seeing all of your ideas.
I love the ways you have used books in your decor, Laura, as well as the ways you use colors and natural tones of books! Very pretty!
I live with books everywhere. Decor and just thrown around the sofa, coffee table or on the kitchen counter! With varying degree of elegance!
I enjoyed these decorating ideas using the books.
Hey Laura! I just love all the gorgeous ways you’ve used books in your decor! I keep going back over your pictures and find something new to discover and enjoy every time. So happy to be on this super-fun hop with you!
Wowza, each vignette was beautiful and so well styled. And I”m totally with you – NO Marie Kondo, you can’t have too many books! LOL. So glad you got to join in. Love how you style your hutches too. Did you measure the distance for everything?! They seem perfect. Pinned!
Love your books, Laura. I love people using them to decorate and incorporate into vignettes and be showcased in their homes. You have done a beautiful job of doing just that. I have downsized my book collection by about 70% with this last move.
I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day- xo Diana
Books make for the perfect risers and its a great way to reign them in when you don’t have a lot of shelves or a bookcase. Old books are perfect; hubby has such an interest in the Civil War, Indian tribes of long ago, and philosophy, so I use his books for decor and he likes to see them shown so he can talk endlessly to anyone who admires them. ;-D
Jane x