It is that time of year…time to find a good book to accompany you at the beach or pool, or to stow away in your suitcase so as not to be left behind on your vacation. You don’t have to leave the house to read a good summer book that causes you to keep the lights on well into the middle of the night. I have a recommendation for you that I just finished that I think you might enjoy.

Who can resist anything having to do with Tiffany’s? Try watching the movie that immortalized Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and then jump into the book, Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart.

It is a memoir of Marjorie Hart and her best friend as they arrive in New York City from the University of Iowa to attain summer positions as shopgirls in 1945. They become the first women to ever work on the sales floor at Tiffany’s.  The Buffalo News states that you will need to glance up from the page periodically to reassure yourself that you are still in 2007 (the year the book was written)…that is what you get here, curiously untouched by the passage of time.” Hart has a genuine gift for conveying the texture of mid-century Manhattan”, reads USA Today. I say that while it is a light read, it is a must for anyone who loves reading about our past; the social mores of the time, the approach of the end of World War II, a behind the scenes peak at an iconic store and the question “Do you remember the best summer of your life?”

We also have a little affinity towards Audrey Hepburn. I hung the picture of her from Breakfast at Tiffany’s above the fireplace in my daughters’ sitting room off of her bedroom. I know…who needs a sitting room?????? The one girl in a family of 4 incredibly active and voracious boys maybe?  A girl who does not have even one little tiny closet in her bedroom?? What is a girl without a closet? Well we solved the no closet problem by letting Kelsey have her bedroom and the room next to hers which has closets in it as well. (remember we live in an old house and old houses have lots of little rooms in them w/ no closets). We called it the “sitting room” and that made the boys retort, after complaining quite loudly that it was not fair that she had two rooms, “That is okay, who needs a sitting room anyway, all you do is sit in it.”

Now that I had the excuse to decorate TWO rooms in a “girlie” theme we went to town, using the Audrey Hepburn picture as my inspiration. Lots of black and white w/ the palest of blues as a wall color. Found this great mirror at TJ Maxx.

I carried that elegance that the picture portrayed into her bathroom with this water color of a lovely blue dress. Jennifer…yes, my artist friend got the damask dark blue stencils right on and then shaded the walls to blend in and out of blues…like the background in the water color painting.

A cute little black chandelier with teardrops was a perfect fit!

There is the tiny closet…just big enough to fit a small body in it during a wicked game of hide and seek.

There you have it…a book recommendation and some design inspiration. Does anyone have a good book to tell us about? Would love to hear it!

Happy Reading!