Familar surroundings

If you were to live somewhere temporarily, would you miss your books? Here are some solutions for when you are limited to a small stack on a table.

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Bookcase love

I would love these Baroque bookcases in my bedroom...

... and this circular bookcase to save space.

Strangely, I also find it attractive that you can vacuum under it.

Storyville

This picturesque library is for children under five. Designed for the Baltimore Public Library it comprises seven learning spaces that contain books and other engaging materials and activities to promote language and literacy. Called Storyville, the library encourages parent or carer participation and is set up like a village with areas such as a lighthouse and construction zone.

More photos can be found at James Bradberry Architects and on the Storyville website.

Authored tweets

Crime writer (and model) Tara Moss has a Twitter feed that I follow. Recently, she posted the link to this bookcase she purchased, called Bookworm, by Kartell and a gorgeous looking collection of books she purchased for World Book Day.

Which authors do you follow on Twitter?

Preserved treasures

Following my recent post on an exhibition displaying paintings of bookshelves, I have discovered more that I love.

These beautiful arrangements of old books, with colours and treasure-like qualities are preserved as paintings by artist Holly Farrell. One of the paintings portrays cookbooks and the other children's books.

More brush strokes

I also painted this table purple and white. My father made this for woodwork when he was in primary school. The table can be turned, so that the sides flip up and it widens. Like yesterday's project, this also supports books and tea.

Painted

This is one of the projects I have been working on lately at home. Jeremy brought back the file from a workplace a couple of years ago and I just finished painting it white and purple. It holds our magazines, with a stack of books on the top and there's also room for a cup of tea to sip while you're reading them.

Mapping out some shelving

I love this bookself that forms a map of the United States, with the shelves placed according to the state boundaries. The huge unit is made of stainless steel is part of an exhibition by Ron Arad at the Timothy Taylor Gallery in London.

Bedtime stories

Shopping today I found these pyjamas with a book print at Peter Alexander. They are available for men and women, and come packaged in a box that looks like an old volume of bedtime stories.

Bibliomania

Bibliomania: The Bookshelf Portrait Project was an exhibition at the Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts in Melbourne in 2008 and I was reminded of it recently through a post from Inside Out blog.

The paintings in the exhibition, by Victoria Reichelt, are of books in shelves. Some of the books are random, some painted from photos the artist takes of an individual's collection - like an insightful portrait.

The books are an interesting choice as Victoria sees them as under threat from technology. Their capture on canvas rendering them unable to be opened and able only to be judged by their covers.

More can be found on Inside Out blog and Victoria Reichlet's website.

Books of produce

Today I visited the Royal Easter Show in Sydney where one of the district displays had a book theme. The displays are made of primary products, with this one from South East Queensland display. The patterns on the books were made entirely from grains.

I'm with Mary

Recently I purchased Mary goes travelling by Gilbert Delahaye and Marcel Marlier at a second-hand book shop. Now, each time I walk past these port hole-like mirrors on my way to my gym and pool, I am reminded of some images inside the book. I feel like I am on board Mary's cruise liner.

I also identified being in the book when Jeremy, Oskar and I flew back from Melbourne lately and Oskar was invited into the cockpit at the end of the flight. I looked just as complicated and enchanting as this image.

Pulp purses

These purses have been made out of book covers. I found a tutorial for them on Craftster, so you could make them yourself.

They would be perfect inside these book handbags.

Crafty covers

After making my own bookmarks on the weekend, I have been looking around Craftster and found some other book-related crafts. I like the idea of these book covers as my handbag contains so many items that damage my books and I am scared my new bookmarks will fall out. They would also hide the cover of your book if you wanted.

Made by me

Growing up brought with it an abundance of bookmarks. These were received for celebrations major, like birthdays, and minor, like that seemed to be given at all occasions. Now, I never have enough and often end up using a Post-It notes, so this weekend I made some myself from patterned papers and pink card. Three have an Easter theme, the cat one is just for fun.

Date-stamped goodnesss

Adding books to your Lent shelf on Booktagger can help you track which books you have lent out. But, how do you make sure your friends remember?

I have always loved this old fashioned library kit. No bar codes, scanners or due date print outs. This kit comes with thirty adhesive pockets for the library details and a record of the return date, thirty insert cards, thirty "For Reference Only (Do Not Circulate" stickers, a pencil and a date stamp. Available online from Restoration Hardware.

I loved the sound of that date stamp, meaning a stack of fresh books were about to be handed over. I also recall the books you always desperately needed in order to finish a school project over the weekend had "For Reference Only" stickers.

Just finished

Business Stripped Bare is not really a business book. I enjoyed it as much as I did Branson's earlier autobiography, Losing My Virginity. He details the expansion of Virgin beyond the United Kingdom, which was particularly interesting as he discusses Virgin's ventures in Australia. However, the focus is not so much on the sequence of recent events, but how he still manages to be an entrepreneur when Virgin is so large and how he is using these skills to combat climate change.

Before Brad Pitt's movie, I must admit to not having heard of Benjamin Button and if I hadn't have been able to download it for free on my iphone, I may not have read the character's story. But, with these modern promptings, I did and I loved the tale. Far from being sad, it is endearing and thought provoking and had me feeling contemplative throughout the day. The ending, of course, is obvious from the start. If only our lives did go that way. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a short story worth reading.