When we were little, we used to watch My Fair Lady--the one with Audrey Hepburn--and we've had a soft spot for beautiful wood-paneled libraries with spiral staircases and rolling ladders ever since. We've been noticing a recent trend lately with lofts and the bookcase-and-ladder combo, so we'd like to know if anyone has a DIY solution to creating this look?
It's my dream to have a Library in my house one day. With a fireplace, and a bookshelf with ladder.
view Christal's profile
Funny Face is another fantastic Audrey movie with a bookshop scene near the beginning that has a rolling ladder and a spiral staircase. The movie also stars Fred Astaire (*swoon*). It's a scene that inspires my style to this day. Now if only my apartment had room for an entire wall of books... hrm...
view MissHoneychurch's profile
I live in a second-floor apartment in a brownstone in Brooklyn. I turned one of the two middle rooms into a dining room/library with floor to ceiling bookshelves on both of the long walls for under $300. I find the bookshelf standards and brackets from Ikea to be the best value. The standards at Home Depot and those other stores have are expensive and have double columns of holes which is overkill. Then I have the wood shelves cut to size. I spent hours growing through the pine shelves at Home Depot to find the ones with the least knots and splintering. I've done the same thing at all the apartments I've lived, installing shelves all the way to the ceiling, and have even done it for friends. Everyone loves them. I do it because I hate store bought cases -- I can't stand all that empty space on top of them. These shelves I installed have essentially become my signature design thing where ever I've lived.
view eddieb's profile
@Christal: You, too? :)
view mr.O's profile
EddieB, do you have photos of your bookcases?? They sound great!
view grace's profile
Ikea actually sells a few ladders for this purpose, the cheapest and most modern being...
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00104465
I imagine you could hack this ladder with some hooks to make it compatible with a rail mounted at the appropriate height on the front of any built in shelving unit.
Also, an idea I really liked that I saw recently in a loft on the market was having the same kind of rail mounted on floor to ceiling storage in the bedroom and front hall so you could take the same ladder from the office to these other spaces to access seasonal clothes and other items that you don't need as often.
view tommymiller50's profile