Over new year's, I was in Savannah with my friend Melissa and we stopped in to Urban Outfitters for a bit. The coolest thing in the store (to me), besides all the gag gifts, were the stairs.

From what I can tell, they took some of those grates you find as part of the sidewalk and filled them with concrete. How cool is that? You could add some pigment to the concrete to match any particular decor you might want to have. Red concrete stairs would be pretty impressive...

This is something that may or may not be in my future apartment or house. Heaviest stairs ever?

A worthwhile project? Yes. Time consuming? Kinda. Will I do it again? Probably. 

This Christmas I chose to recover some used books I picked up at McKay's Bookstore in Nashville for a dear friend of mine. Certainly a personal gift as each book was specifically chosen for her.

We are both big fans of Restoration Hardware and their canvas-covered books they have on display. I took a hint and chose to do the same, but actually glue the canvas to the books instead of simply wrapping the books for looks... Read on to see how I did it.