updates in the library

I wish I had taken a few "before" shots of the library. Then you could how much more orderly this room has become over the last month. Alas, I was so focused on the reorganization, that the before shots completely slipped my mind. Suffice to say, there was double-parking of books, many books laying on their sides on top of other books, and general chaos that happens when you outgrow the number of shelves available for occupation. Not to mention, unless you knew where a book was located, it was often a wild goose chase. With space so tight, we'd long given up our original topical shelf organization. Paul and I spent a weekend at the beginning of January completely removing every book from the library shelves, shedding a number of books from our collection, then reorganizing by topic.

And the reason that we were able to reorganize the entire library and make room for new books that will undoubtably make their way into our home, we decided to add bookshelves to our bedroom. Well, I decided. The whole undertaking was a surprise for Paul for Christmas. My parents were so generous to stop at Ikea and squeeze these 83" tall shelves into their car to bring them to me. Then, the weekend before Christmas, while Paul was out for the morning, my dad put them together. Paul was thrilled and many of his books have been relocated to this shelf. Now we have plenty of room to expand in both locations, which is thrilling to me!

Also, back to the library, I don't think I ever shared about this beautiful desk (ignore the mess of cords underneath) that Paul bought me back in the summer. A friend has a vintage shop downtown, and we saw this Paul McCobb desk with satellite legs one weekend while we were visiting her shop. I was smitten, and while I was out of town with the kids the next week, Paul bought it for me and located it to the library for a surprise when I returned.

Then back around Thanksgiving, another friend was getting rid of this vintage typewriter. When I swooned over the picture on Facebook, he offered it in exchange for a handknit hat. The best investment of a hat that I ever made! I intend to have it cleaned and hopefully fixed soon. Until then, we just admire her beauty.

Back in the early fall, when we were visiting a favorite local coffee haunt (because coffee served out of an Airstream is always better), we stumbled through the furniture showroom next door and walked away with the perfect chair to go with our desk, on sale, no less. The laptop at that desk has become the kids laptop, for homework and other queries, which means they are using the desk more than I am at this point. For now, anyway.

At the same furniture shop, we found this amazing piece of modern design, the Node chair, and we knew that we couldn't leave without it. The chair and desk part completely swivel. The kids use it quite often for drawing, especially while listening to audiobooks on the laptop across the room.

With the addition of these pieces of furniture (the first we've bought in years), I think our library has become much more useful, and usable. The kids spend a great deal of time in there now, and they still have plenty of floorspace, as they often play Legos, etc, in there while listening to stories.