The Reading Room.......

Happy Friday everyone!! The snow is falling again today, but thankfully, the sun is trying to shine. I NEED the sunshine!!!  Cabin fever is trying to set in, but as long as that sun is shining brightly, I think I can hang on for another day!

Yesterday the sun did shine - which made it difficult to get photos of my favorite room in my house.  But I think I got a few good ones. So here it is....The Reading Room!!

It's a small room, but has a huge west facing window and ceilings that soar to about 14 feet. It also has these awesome french doors that I absolutely love!!!

 Big, comfy, leather chairs to sink into while browsing through a great book or magazine!

  

The cowhide rug was a Christmas gift from The Man last year. He knows my heart! I would much rather have things like this than jewelry or diamonds!!!  Give me home decor, antiques, or even some good "junk" anytime of the year!!

There are many thrift store and antique store finds in this room! The stack of suitcases used as an end table are items I've collected over the past couple of years and the wooden gate leg table in front of the chairs is a recent purchase from one of my favorite antiques stores - The Rink. 

The bingo cards and the spinning bingo wheel (don't know what it's really called) make an interesting little vignette. 

The sweet little rosemary tree is a recent purchase from Lowe's for $1.49.  It was a Christmas clearance item that came in a bright red plastic pot. I simply tied a small piece of a burlap sack around the pot and added a metal rosemary garden stake.  It's so cute! Now if only I can keep it alive!! 

This large cabinet is another antique store find from years ago and most of the items on the shelves are from antique and thrift stores.  More suitcases and boxes and books.  I love using vintage books for decorating purposes. There are also photos of the kids sitting on the shelves. Oh how I love those kids!!!

The back of the cabinet is lined with a burlap grain sack -

Here's a corner of the room. The large basket is full of magazines. I took some out so it wouldn't look so junky for the photo, but believe me, it's usually spilling over with magazines. Mostly decorating magazines and Pottery Barn catalogs.  The ladder is a recent antique store find, but this probably isn't where it will stay in my home. I have some other plans for that little ladder! And the branches - I picked them up outside at my Dad's house.

And the other corner - a little antique child's desk and an old typewriter. This typewriter has a story - a family story. The Man's grandfather owned an upholstery shop and this is the typewriter he used to type out his invoices. He didn't want a computer - he liked the typewriter! When he retired and closed the shop, he started throwing things away - like in the dumpster - and this typewriter was one of the casualties.  The Man, knowing me like he does, knew that I would want the typewriter, so he went dumpster diving for me and found the typewriter the night before they were to empty the dumpster!!  How sweet is that??  I love that man - The Man!!

The old rusty cow bell is also a family "heirloom".  I got it from my dad.  He was going to throw it away - so of course, I had to rescue it!! Now it has a home hanging with the cows!

The wall next to the desk has this large (4'x4') board hanging as art work. I needed a quick fix to fill this large space, but didn't want to spend much money, so this is what I came up with. It's just a thin piece of plywood painted with layers of paint and distressed then I simply added vinyl "wall words".  The wall looks bare in this photo, so maybe I will add some sconces or something to either side of the board. What do you think??

And last - here's the beautiful transom window above the french doors. Love it! The little feather wreaths hanging on the window treatments are Christmas ornaments I found on clearance a couple of years ago. So cute!

So there's the Reading Room.  While I love this room, there are several things I want to do to it. First, I would like to paint it, just not sure what color. I like the mono-chromatic color scheme I have in there, just can't find the right color to put on the walls.  I think I want a dark color - like chocolate brown.  Do you have any suggestions or ideas? I would love to hear them!  Also, I want the room to have more of a library feel, so as a friend recently suggested, I am going to add a shelf around the perimeter of the room about 9 ft up and lots of books and other items I find.  Hopefully that will give it the feel and look I'm after!

Thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoyed the little tour!