A Peacock Family Christmas: Decoration Edition II

I showed a few handmade Christmas decorations that appear around Peacock but there are many more to be seen. I've invested quite some time in creating a festive home and I think it has paid off! One of the things I thought of a while back and was so excited to do was use books as decorations. I envisioned all of my red and green bound books together to add a splash of holiday colors to a room. When I re-stacked all of my books I used to opportunity to grab all the reds and greens. I put them on one of our many space-heater turned shelves in front of a window and really like the overall appearance!

The book ends are also hand-me-downs of Nannie's that my sister, Meggie, so lovingly allowed me to have even though Nannie split them between us. I had no idea what to do with these until the books needed some ends so I tossed a few extra ornaments in them and voila! 

I obviously couldn't leave my children's books on the cluttered shelf unseen so they too moved to a space heater turned shelf! 

I also discovered (drumroll, please. . . ) Chalkboard Paint! And let me tell you, it was a life-changing discovery. I have begun painting all sorts of things with it including a few ornaments. 

I also painted a few picture frames as gifts and wrote on them then tied a piece of chalk in the ribbon. I thought it was clever or at least creative! I'll share the other results of chalkboard paint later.

xoK

over the river and through the woods to Nannie's house we go!

Last weekend my sister, two nephews, and I packed up camp and drove two hours to visit our grandmother whom we lovingly refer to as Nannie. Nannie has an old southern accent and repeatedly says the phrase, "now it's like i've always said" in reference to things she has never said before. It's endearing. So we spent the night, enjoyed a few meals together, helped put up then decorate her Christmas tree, then stumbled upon some really great hidden treasures in her garage. Apparently Nannie was planning on giving away some incredibly wonderful items that my sister saw and knew I'd love! It actually all started a hanging coat/hat rack that I, of course, repurposed.

And it hangs above my bookshelf made of books. . .

Which I finally got around to re-stacking to look nicer.

Prior to this they were stacked more by size than color and eventually began to look cluttered. It didn't help that my sweet puppy Millie would chew on the corners of the books and shred any loose books she could get. It was especially terrible after I began stacking newly acquired books in front of the original stack rather than on top. Needless to say, I am thrilled with my restacking because a) the chewed corners are no longer visible, b) they are somewhat color coordinated, which I really like! and c) there is one slightly taller stack rather than two messy stacks! 

Plenty more came from Nannie's garage that I adore. Luckily my sister, Meggie, is more of a "Pottery Barn meets Snapdragon" kind of decorator so I didn't have to fight her for the lovely items discovered at my Grandmother's. =)

xoK

I judge a book by it's cover.

But who would't after seeing these precious books? 

I have a small collection of these myself. The problem is, they make them faster than I can buy them!  I'm secretly thankful for this because I always have something to look forward to purchasing. I buy them one at a time whenever I get a coupon from Borders. So imagine my excitement when I found out they have a new line of children's classics! 

Aren't they just lovely?