Harlequin Books discussion

the multi-purpose room - the room everyone has that is sometimes a dining room, sometimes the home office, sometimes the craft room, sometimes the party room. For us, it is the place to share projects. i.e. a fun craft, a writing project, party theme suggestions...

I actually have two rooms like this in my house. We don't do much entertaining so my husband has claimed half of the dining room as storage for his art supplies. He has too many easels though and really needs more space. I've turned the downstairs bedroom into my home office/library and my daughter has a desk in here as well, for homework and sewing projects.

Here are some photos of my office/library.

Wow Kim that is quite the book collection. I'm so impressed!

Kim, when can I move in? I love your office/library and would happily stay there.
Our multipurpose room has been taken over by our 2.5 year old twins and is now the toy room. I won't post photos because it always looks like a disaster zone!

Amazing!!!

Wow, that is an impression collection! I don't know how you get any work done. I'd be so tempted to grab a favorite book!!

Wow Kim I'm jealous. I turned an extra bedroom into sort of a library and it stayed clean for oh about one week LOL ;)

That is an amazing collection of books, Kim! We are moving soon and I want those bookshelves in my office (guest room, but we all know it will be my office).
-Harper

www.harperstgeorge.com

Holy cow Kim!! Can I come over and "borrow" a few?? Have you read them or are they TBR??? do you have them in any kind of order? When I came over to stalk your shelves.......please have a drool bib ready for me!! Lol

Thank you. I promised my husband if he built me the shelves I would no longer horde books in boxes and bags in every corner of the house. A little over a year ago, he was diagnosed with cancer and decided he better build me my library. I had to give away a lot of books. At last count, I donated/gave away 856 books. It hurt but I made that promise. The library still needs finishing touches, but I'm happy with it.

I do lend books out to friends but I've started making them "sign them out." I was losing track of who had which books. I miss them when they are missing!

The books are in some order. About 75% are historical (all different publishers) and I have them alphabetized. Then I have them sorted by groups: HQNs and Miras together, Fantasy/sci-fi, paranormal, Teen, and then by harlequin series like Desire, Presents, LI, and so forth. I thought about sorting them by the color of their spine because I've seen some awesome personal libraries sorted that way but I have way to many to try and do that with and then I thought about how hard it would be to find a certain book when I was in the mood to re-read. I did sort my Nocturnes by color though because it was so easy! I also have my prized collection of signed books. I'm a total fan girl and go to any signing event that is close enough for me to go. A few years ago the RT Book Convention was in Pittsburgh and I was in my glory. Pittsburgh is only a 5 hour drive and there was like a gazillion of my authors attending. I had so much fun!

I've read about 85% of them. I re-read often and have some dearly loved very dog-eared copies.

Wow Kim, thanks for sharing. I'm sorry for your husband's diagnosis I know how scary that is as my husband and I went through that a few years ago.
I'm lucky because my hairdresser is a huge reader and turned half of her space into a lending library and I bring her a bag of arcs every month when I get my hair done. I will never part with my signed copies but I was pretty much getting run out of my house w/books like you. On an average I get about 10 books a week from different publishers/publicists/authors. But storage was the hard part now that's solved. Thanks for sharing

I review at Fresh Fiction and we have to throw away our arcs when finished reading and reviewing ......it kills me, but when I'm finished with a " finished" book I pass them on at the Free Little Libraries" here in the Valley.

That is soooo beautiful! Book, books, and more books. A great place to party--and work.

Harlequin Books wrote: "the multi-purpose room - the room everyone has that is sometimes a dining room, sometimes the home office, sometimes the craft room, sometimes the party room. For us, it is the place to share proje..."

I do have one issue though. I have several stacks of books that I've read this past year that I want to add to my collection but I don't have enough room for them all. So, I must go through and decide which ones to donate. This causes even more issues though because I know I will come across a title I haven't read yet which means I'll have to read it before I can decide if I should donate it. But, if it becomes a keeper then I haven't created any space. It is a wicked circle!

Kim, just noticed the above about your husband. A real-life hero, I can tell. I hope he is better. How beautiful that he went ahead and made your library for you.

Deb, you said you "went through all that," so I'm thinking treatment was successful. And sounds like your hairdresser is a total keeper! XOXO!

Christine wrote: "Kim, just noticed the above about your husband. A real-life hero, I can tell. I hope he is better. How beautiful that he went ahead and made your library for you.

Deb, you said you "went throug..."

Thank you Christine, and I think he is hero worthy. :) Cancer is a funny thing. When you hear you have it, all you can do is think about getting rid of it and how it will change everything. We went for a second opinion because the first doctor scared us so much with everything he was saying about the treatment he wanted my husband to try. The second doctor couldn't believe what the first doctor wanted to do. His recommendation to us was to wait and watch. If the cancer grows or begins to spread then we have to look at all the scary stuff but until then, we wait. It is never out of our minds that he has cancer but until more needs to be done, we are living each day to the fullest.

Kim, wise choices. Glad you got that second opinion and here's to the full life you're living right now! XOXO!

Anyone have an interesting project in the works?

When I feel extra stressed, I love doing paint-by-numbers to take my mind off from everything. I recently splurged and bought 2 of them. One is a water scene and the other is of an owl.

No one else likes paint-by-numbers? Ok. I knew I was different but different is good. :)

What do you do besides reading to de-stress?

Anyone have any Fall craft pictures they want to share?

Have you put together a seasonal decoration pinterest board together?

Are you hosting any of the holidays and are needing design ideas?

Don't forget to share with us or scream for help if you need any.

I haven't started to decorate, yet, but once I get my winter village put together, I'll try to share a picture. Currently, I am the proud owner of a broken camera thus "try" is all I can promise.

However, I would love to see pictures of your favorite decorating success. Show off your talents by sharing pictures of your Christmas tree/favorite decoration, Hanukkah decoration, Kwanza decoration, winter themed anything or summer themed for you lucky ones enjoying the beaches. You get the idea, right? Share how you express December and/or the holidays so we can oooh and aaah over your efforts and maybe get inspired by them. ~ Kim

My winter village is complete. Well, to be honest, it is about 95% complete. I snuck off to bed early last night and my daughter surprised me by dragging the rest of the decorations out of storage and putting together the tree. There are a few tweeks I need to do, fill a few blank spots with something, and then I believe the inside will be done. I need to try and get my husband to test the lights for outside. I'll put them up once he does the frustrating part of untangling and finding the ONE burnt out bulb.

Obviously it has been a while since anyone posted in here but I hope that will change. :)

I'm getting in a few moments of relaxation before my day gets crazy. My daughter's high school graduation party is today. It's going to be super busy and fun. She'll even have a live jazz band for about an hour. Anyways, I just had to come in and share my morning funny thought: all the decorations are in her school colors, red and green. It's going to look a bit like Christmas in June! LOL I think I over did the red and green theme a bit to much when I look at my stack of decorations we'll be taking with us to the club.