While fact-checking an upcoming story, I had the opportunity to check out Billy Baldwin Decorates from the library. I'm sure many of you own the book or have read it at one time or another, but if you haven't flipped through it in awhile, it's worth another look. Baldwin is a font of sensible decorating advice that still inspires 40 years after it was first published. Here are some especially good passages:

Image courtesy of Life.com

As much as I like my job here at Southern Accents, I need a break sometimes—we all do. I love vacationing, but sometimes traveling (not to mention planning, booking flights and hotels, and packing) leaves me feeling like I need a real vacation when I return from the trip.

You’ve probably seen and heard the term “staycation” lately. Last week I took one, and it was a great week. I think we’re all realizing that we don’t have to spend a lot of money or do something grand to have an enjoyable time.

Don’t overdo it (you do want to relax), but I would suggest making plans for your staycation. If I hadn’t, I would have whittled my entire week away organizing and cleaning here and there. Even though I made time for some of that, I also took my one-year-old son to the pool. We went to our local library to see a magic show. I took long, leisurely trips to the grocery store (an indulgence for me), and made dinner for our family most nights, including one you should try: Bow Ties with Tomatoes, Feta, and Balsamic Dressing, from the latest issue of Cooking Light. 

I love the sun, even in July, so I spent of lot of time outside—weeding, planting basil, tending to my tomato plants, and sitting on our new patio reading The Disagreement. I even sipped ice water with cucumber and lemon as I read, something I’ve never done outside of the spa. But why not feel special at home? One morning, my son and I went for a long run with the jogging stroller, something that never seems to happen on weekends.

This week, I’m feeling caught up at home, relaxed, and refreshed. Is anyone else planning a staycation? Are there museums and summer events in your city that you’ve never gotten around to? Maybe you’d rather spend your time at home—in your kitchen or on your patio. What are your plans?

—Holly Goff

One of the latest rounds of "tag" that has been going around the social networking sites asks friends to name 15 books they've read that will always stick with them. I generally avoid these games like the plague, but I readily admit that I have enjoyed perusing others' lists–I'm always looking for something new to read and it's fun to see how many of my friends' favorites that I've already finished. So let's play a condensed version. Below I've named three books that have had an impact on my life–two are classics, one relatively new. I'd love to know one, two, or three of yours!

When my sisters and I were young, my father would read The Happy Prince to us during the holidays. Oscar Wilde's tale of the ultimate gift of love and sacrifice was a meaningful story for the season, and inevitably Dad would be choking back tears by the time he got to the last page. The book left me with two important messages that remain with me to this day: the importance of giving to others in need and that real men do cry.

If you enjoy history, then check out the World Digital Library at www.wdl.org. An international digital library operated by the American Library of Congress and UNESCO, it features historical maps (such as the one below of Florida in 1584), an engraved portrait of Thomas Jefferson from the early 19^th century, a photograph of Abraham Lincoln taken during the Civil War, and the first novel (a Japanese work titled The Tale of Genji). 

The items have been scanned in their original language, but a brief explanation of the content and significance of each item is available in seven different languages. It’s amazing to look at the unique items that represent the different countries around the world. The World Digital Library hopes to promote understanding of other cultures with its 1,200 documents, rare books, music, and films, all with historical or cultural importance from cultures around the world, and the library will continue to add more items to its database.

All images from the World Digital Library

I love Etsy.com. I could (and occasionally do) spend hours clicking through page after page of people's handmade crafts and vintage findings. I especially appreciate crafts that make artful use of salvaged materials. Here are some of my latest finds, all made from vintage paper and books. 

I’m always curious about the books that people have in their homes. But before I can make out the titles on the spine, I take note of how the books themselves are displayed. Whether they’re arranged in artful stacks on a nightstand or on the floor, tucked into shelves lined up vertically or horizontally, or even flipped open to a favorite page on the coffee table, I think a well-displayed collection of books is truly a decorative element to a room.

Elaine Griffin's New York apartment with stylishly stacked books photographed by William Waldron for Southern Accents July-August 2006

I also think that Elaine Griffin, New York interior designer and author of Design Rules (Viking Fall 2009), is one of the best at integrating books into design. “My husband and I are both super bookish, so the hardest part of our marriage was not combining our closets, it was combining our library,” says Griffin. Here are 7 of her “Rules” for displaying your books:

1. No room is really complete without books. Even if you don’t read them, fake it because they add color, they add detail, they add interest, and they make you look smart and cultured.

2. Stack them up. With overflow books, we’re going to stylishly and neatly stack those up on the floor along the wall or below a window. If you arrange them neatly in little vertical stacks, they become a piece of furniture. I just like them as visual space holders.

3. You always want coffee table books on your coffee table. But don’t get carried away. It is not the book depository. You want several stacks and alternate them so you have some that can be read from each side of the room you’re seated.

I love finding old etiquette books in antique bookstores. It's fascinating to me to see what has remained a constant in the world of manners (putting other people at ease) and what has become irrelevant, whether due to technology or changes in society. Obviously decades ago we couldn't have envisioned that we would need to point out that checking a Blackberry during a dinner party was a big no-no. But apparently reminding gentleman not to put their cigarettes out on the living room carpet had to be said.

I recently found a book called Don'ts for Husbands, which was originally published in 1913 and was reissued last year in a pocket-sized edition. As the book came out around the time that my house was built, I like to wonder if its original occupants considered it the "Rules" of the day. 

Here are a few gems from the book:

"Don't drop cigarette ash all over the drawing-room carpet. Some people will tell you that it improves the colours, but your wife won't care to try that recipe."

"Don't take the attitude that wives, like children, should be seen and not heard. No doubt you are a very clever fellow, and it is an education for her to listen to you, but she also may have some views worth mentioning."

"Don't object to a servant on the score of her looks. Your wife will take care not to engage a pretty maid if she suspects you of undue interest in her appearance."

"Don't run away with the idea that there is nothing to do in a house, and that your wife should therefore never be busy or tired. You work for a few hours at the office, and come right away from it until the next day; but a woman's work is never done until bedtime, and then she lies awake and thinks of something she has left undone."

"Don't stubbornly refuse to put on your overcoat on a threatening morning and then when, after getting wet through on the way to the station and sitting in your wet clothes, you develop a bad cold, take it out on your wife by being crochety and irritable."

"Don't argue that a new hat isn't necessary because there is nothing visibly wrong with the one she is wearing. You have probably forgotten that this is its third season, but she hasn't."

"Don't come in at any odd time, and expect to find your dinner done to a turn. If it was ready at the time you said you were coming, it can't be quite as nice an hour or two later. Your home is neither a club nor an hotel."   (Yes, it's true. Some things never change....)

There is also a companion edition, Don'ts for Wives, which I'm anxiously awaiting from Amazon. Will keep you posted!