The theme for this month’s Artuality carnival is furniture. How does furniture inspire you?

Some of you, being more visually artistic than I am, may tell us about a particular piece or style beautiful and artistic in its creation. You may choose to tell us how a particular piece inspires you spiritually.

I have chosen to show you a simple (and cheap, I might add) piece that inspires me not because of its inherent beauty but because of what it inspires me to do.

(Side note: My original idea was this chair, which I think is brilliant, beautiful, and inspiring, but Jen talked about it on her blog yesterday. The theif.)

(Side note 2: I also thought about telling you about the dollhouse my grandfather built for me, complete with wallpaper, shingles, and a beautiful white door. For years and years, it housed by imagination. But since Tanya talked about that yesterday, I thought I should find something new.)

So my piece of furniture is my new bookshelf.

There’s nothing special about this particular piece. It came from Target. My husband and I assembled it using no outside tools. A gerbil could have done the same job.

When my husband began working from home on a regular basis, we realized we couldn’t work in the same office, much as we love each other. So I moved. I took over a spare bedroom. (Yes, we left the bed in the room, and don’t think I haven’t made use of that for a fifteen-minute power nap!) When I got my new office, we realized we were also out of shelf space, and I needed more book space. So forth we went to Target.

Why would I choose a simple (and cheap!) black bookshelf? Because it makes me do the happy dance. Think of the shelves to fill! Think of the books and characaters who will become my friends!

And think of the characters about whom I’ll write, the stories from my imagination I’ll share that will someday (hopefully) take up a space on someone else’s bookshelf.

So what furniture inspires you? (Don’t forget to leave a comment when you link to give me a heads up!)