The built-in bookshelves in the home-office-formerly-known-as-den have become battle grounds for a bloodless conflict I’ve come to think of as “Treasured Tomes Verses Titles Powells Won’t Buy.” In a family of four avid readers, the books come in, the books go out. Some are borrowed from libraries, others from friends, but most are bought, read, held onto a few years and then sold back to secondhand books stores, passed along to friends, or donated. 

Popsicle sticks make fine birdhouses. Just don’t expect to see any at the Portland Bazaar. Grace Bonney, founder of the Design*Sponge website and author of Design*Sponge at Home, is co-hosting the December event, and Bonney is an astute observer (and absorber) of good design. Spongelike, you might say.

The Williams-Sonoma Homestore in Portland inspires the ideal hostess in my head. She’s the one who graciously welcomes guests with drinks in Baccarat crystal chilled with chic and smart stainless steel “ice” cubes, serves hors d’oeuvres from the little wood-topped kitchen island, before settling back in an adorable little Parisian flea market chair to raise a glass and say “Cheers!”