Talya Tate Boerner - grace grits and gardening

How to arrange bookshelves…(or at least how I do it)

October 2, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

Today I’m ready to reveal our library and how I arranged our bookshelves. Since our recent move consisted of more books boxes than anything else, the fact that our new (to us) house has a library is a good thing. The room is not large, but there are two walls covered floor to ceiling with shelves. Plus the cabinets down below hide my crafty messy stuff.

OhBeStillMy❤❤❤

Look at the possibilities. I’ve always wanted a room devoted to books. And this one reminded me of the Beauty and the Beast library—on a much smaller scale.

naked shelves – before

In case you are curious, the paint color is Benjamin Moore HC-109, a historical color named Sussex Green. The shade is moody and restful and perfect for a library.

For a week, the room became a catch-all. We dumped everything in there.

We organized other rooms in the house before attempting the library. That space was a huge deal because a) I love my books and b) it’s where I will do lots of writing so I need the room to feel comfortable and inspirational.

Naturally, I turned to Pinterest and plowed through photos of bookshelf arrangements for examples. Let’s be clear. I am NOT a decorator or a designer, but I do enjoy organizing things. Even so, our bare shelves were somewhat intimidating at first.

I discovered there are various schools of thought about book organization beyond those library rules from my Keiser Elementary School days. Apparently it has become popular to turn books backwards to create a monochromatic look like this display by cline rose interior design.

Backwards books – via Design in Bloom by clinerose

Wha?

While I can appreciate this clean look as a backdrop for other art or collectibles, there’s no way this would work for us. First of all, we actually read our books. Book titles are somewhat key in the process of book selection. I keep staring at the picture above wondering which sad books have been turned backwards. (But I do love those wooden clothespins.)

Another popular organizational style touts displaying books by color. While this is an interesting idea and looks visually pleasing to the eye (I think?), this sort of arrangement would keep me awake at night because bottom line it seems odd. I simply don’t think of books in terms of color. Hmmm, now where did I put that book with the orange cover I read last summer? Oh yes, it’s in the orange section.

Nope. Not for me.

Books arranged by color – photo via Slate.com

I decided to loosely arrange our books according to genre. Traditional. Common sensical. Maybe boring to the rest of the hip world especially those who use books merely as props.

My process took several hours spread over two days.

First I made leaning towers of books, stacking books all over the room until genres were separated. It got worse before it got better.

Piles and piles of books.

I started with the top shelves and finished one shelf before moving on to the next. I varied the look of each shelf, placing some books horizontal, others vertical. Adding antique vases, pottery and family pictures provided interest, layers and memories. I left space to add more books because let’s be real, it will happen.

we are obviously missing a few of our hardback Harry Potters…hmmm.

While our books may not be as uncluttered and color coordinated as some, I can find what I need. We have a large section of fiction and a separate section for classics. Hemingway (and Hemingway related) has his own section as does Donald Harington. There’s a religious section that includes our collection of family Bibles and my mother-in-law’s Last Supper artwork.

Next to the Jesus section is Horror and Sci-Fi. I have a group of books about writing and poetry. There’s an entire shelf devoted to Arkansas books. I lumped Texas, westerns and history together. There are business related volumes and of course, a section on gardening. I even have a shelf of children’s classic and comic books, most vintage.

John Grisham section; my original Tarzan/Nancy Drew/young reader books; Donald Harington section

I know you will be surprised to learn I did not alphabetize the books within sections (yet).

While there’s no right or wrong way to arrange your bookshelves, when you hit upon a design that works for you, you’ll know. It will feel good.

Now I’m curious. How do you arrange your books? What do you think of the backward books and the color scheme design? Do tell.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Coming soon: arranging photos for wall groupings—lots of photos, not much space.

Musical Pairing:

Beauty and the Beast Library Scene

Savory Rustic Cornbread

September 30, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

Momma made cornbread every night for supper. Every Single Night. Throughout the next day, her iron skillet rested on the stovetop beneath a sheet of crumpled aluminum foil. Every time my sister and I walked through the kitchen, which was constantly because the kitchen was the house hub, we nibbled on the leftover cornbread. It was impossible to walk through without taking a bite. Come five o’clock, she replenished the empty skillet with a fresh pan of cornbread hot from the oven.

So I guess you could say I was raised on cornbread.

There’s nothing better than a slice of hot cornbread dripping with melted butter. Plus, as the weather grows cooler, I can survive for days on end with a pot of beans and cornbread. Or a bowl of chili and cornbread. Or beef stew… I could go on.

For hearty bowls of stew and beans, I prefer a serious, rustic, stick-to-my-ribs (and hips) cornbread.

And guess what? I have a secret ingredient… A secret ingredient you can add to your favorite cornbread recipe to make it more savory and rustic-ker. (new word!)

Seasoning Salt.

Burger House Seasoning Salt, to be specific.

Burger House is a Dallas hamburger tradition, and their seasoning salt is award-winning. If you don’t live in Dallas, you can buy it on-line or substitute your favorite seasoning salt in the same ratio as the regular salt in your recipe. Seasoning salt adds a hint of something extra but not an obvious flavor, know what I mean?

And yes, cornbread should have buttermilk in it too. Right? Right.

buttermilk – key ingredient!

Savory Rustic Cornbread

Print Recipe

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups Cornmeal
1 1/3 cups all-purpose Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons Burger House Seasoning Salt
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
3 large Eggs
1 cup Buttermilk
1/2 cup whole Milk
2 heaping Tablespoons unsalted butter shortening or bacon grease

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Whisk together dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
In a medium bowl, beat eggs. Add buttermilk and whole milk. Stir.
Melt butter in iron skillet on stovetop. Stir and coat sides of skillet with butter. Remove from heat.
Pour wet (egg/milk) ingredients into dry ingredients. Add hot butter to mixture and stir. Batter will be lumpy.
Pour batter into greased skillet. Bake 25-30 minutes until brown.
Enjoy!

and there was this one time I went to a blogger conference…

September 29, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

I recently attended my second Arkansas Women Blogger conference (AWBU). As soon as I unloaded all the swag from my car (more on this later), I flopped on the bed and began to think about all the things I had learned, the items I want to follow up on, the magic of the weekend. Really, it was a magical blogger weekend. I jumped in, held on, absorbed as much as possible, hoped I took enough pictures and notes to remember everything later, then returned back to real life while everything percolated.

And ideas do percolate.

There are ideas still swimming around in my brain from last year’s conference.

After spilling thoughts onto my journal for later reference, I came away with these top five reasons to attend a blogger conference. (These reasons apply not only to bloggers but any profession, any interest, every person.)

Get out of your comfort zone! This is a big one for me. I’m an introvert. I prefer quiet. A group of bloggers is NOT quiet. Attending last year’s conference was a big step for me. Returning a second year and agreeing to speak on a panel about writing was huge. If you stop and think about it, the things we truly want probably are outside our comfort zone, otherwise we’d already have them.
Educate yourself. Technology constantly changes. While I write this, new widgets are being designed and introduced. There is much to learn in any field and people ready and excited to teach. You’ll be surprised to realize you have things to share too. If you don’t learn and evolve, your skills will quickly become stale and irrelevant. You may become irrelevant…
Become inspired. Life will thumb its nose. You’ll second guess yourself. Why the heck would anyone want to read anything I have to write? You’ll run out of ideas. Your ideas will become same ole, same ole. Conferences will motive you, remind you of the reasons you love writing (or whatever your skill, hobby, business, etc.). You will leave excited to do your job better.
Make connections. Writing is solitary. Sitting behind a computer all day, talking only to yourself and your pet can make a person crazy. Know what I mean? Meeting other people who can talk non-stop for an entire weekend about a mutual passion is beneficial. You will make friends and have people to bounce ideas off. Your world will expand.

5. The swag and food! This is certainly not a reason to blog, but a definite bonus for being an Arkansas Women Blogger. AWBU has supportive sponsors including Riceland, Arkansas Farm Bureau, Great Day Farms, Alliance Rubber Products, Visit Rogers, Petit Jean Meats, Acorn, Arkansas Grown, WetNap and Kendal King Group. Just look at the goodies I hauled home. And this wasn’t all of it.