Rooms with Soul

Have you ever seen the show "Hoarders?"  Well I think I am a book hoarder.  I love books and I just cannot seem to let them go.   One day, I came across this quote that totally justified my book hoarding:

"A room without books is like a body without a soul."  -- Cicero

I wrote it down in my journal not only because it justifies my book hoarding, but because I think it's true.  Every room in my house has books, some more than others.  I have always loved having books around but I haven't always been good at displaying them. 

I remember in college having them displayed in my apartment in plastic crates stacked as a bookshelf.  Yeah - NOT ATTRACTIVE.

Then I matured a bit and thought that buying a bookshelf and cramming them all on there was the solution.  I couldn't figure out why my books didn't look like the books in Pottery Barn magazines.

Then I realized there is sort of an art to displaying books.  You can place a few on a wall shelf:

Or put them on a bookshelf in a variety of ways.  Stack some, place some vertically, lean some, and include other objects on the shelf with them (and even on top of them).  Just don't put them all in there standing straight up without any space. 

There is also always the option of placing a few in a basket.    One of my friends said when she is done reading a book, she has a basket in her house where she puts all of the books she wants to give away.  When people come to visit, they are welcome to take a book from the basket to keep.  As a result, many of her friends do the same thing.  In this way, the books are shared.  I love that idea and hope to include it in my house some day.    

Put a few on an end table on top of a tray with candles, or stack a few on top of a picnic basket:

Whatever you do, display them as you would other accessories in your home!   Get them out of boxes and stop stacking them all vertically in bookshelves. 

So if you had Cicero's sentence and you had to fill in the blank with something other than "books," what would you say?

A room without ______________  is like a body without a soul.   

What object do you think a room should never live without? 

PS - I haven't forgotten about the entryway!  The big reveal is coming soon, I PROMISE.