DIY: Old Book Kindle Cover

We all know I love books. A lot. But since I've succumbed to the e-reader, it's been a great way to save my back on the commute and on vacations. My mother is a fellow bookworm—she's probably at fault for my obsession. And since I've been wanting to try my hand at one of these projects for awhile, I thought Mother's Day seemed like a good excuse to get out the Modge Podge!

I did a little research for ideas (blogger Quentin Lewis has a good, albeit different, approach), ordered my book from Amazon and then went to buy supplies...

Back to School Project: Crayonspiration

(Photo by saruhh01)

As a child, I used to obsess over my school supplies. Every time I got a new box of crayons or markers, I would dump them out and put the pieces back in the box—in rainbow order. The pinnacle of achievement was when Crayola started making boxes with 96 crayons. (My brother, for some reason, found it the pinnacle of annoyance to watch me organize.)

Italianspiration: Travel Organizers

It's Monday, which means I am already thinking of next weekend and my next adventures. My thoughts are also turning towards our upcoming Italy trip in September. In the midst of figuring out where to go, what to wear, and what to pack, I've been pondering ways to streamline the process. We are attempting to share a suitcase or just bring two small roll-a-boards that we can easily schlep onto the train. But one thing we've also discussed is whether to bring a laptop, iPad, Kindle, or any of the other devices that seem to power our lives (and weigh down my purse!)

Last week, I was thrilled by this innovative Vintage Book Travel-Tech Organizer by Design*Sponge's talented diy-er Kate Pruitt.

(Photo by Kate Pruitt for Design*Sponge)

Project: Desks

My husband works at home, and one of my current goals is to create a workspace that is as aesthetically pleasing as it is functional. We're getting there slowly, but there's only so much you can do with a full-size keyboard. But I have been doing some digging and was thrilled to find several posts on Ikea Hacker with creative, beautiful solutions.

My favorite is this Milk-inspired desk that enables you to have workspace and keyboard access. Right now, J has a desktop set up behind the keyboard, but it's anything but ergonomic. Other than a canister of pens, everything else has to go on other shelves.

Project: Rug Dreams

We need a rug for our living room. I love our hardwood floors, but in a room that triples as living, dining and kitchen, it'd be nice to define the space. These are older pictures of the room, but they give a sense of layout. Moving the piano is the biggest obstacle because it has to be on a sheet of soundproofing as well as casters. All that has to go underneath any rug we put down, and then the piano lifted on top. Needless to say, J is not too fond of that idea.

I really like the Andalusia rug from West Elm but think the weave might be too coarse and the color too much of the same chocolate brown.