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it is only great for a magazine shoot , in real life not so functional

i attempted the magazine pile as a nightstand, lets just say there is a limit how high they can go and how fast the jenga tower comes down :)

the coffee table made of books is visually stimulating, but how do you clean, even once in a great while, it will be a pain the ass to get the dust out of those things. lets not forget that some of us are also klutzes and the table may become a pile of books in one miss-step

...and I thought books were for reading - and tables for holding up lamps, drinks, etc.

agree with above. plus, a hundred or more large design books as a coffee table is not going to be all that cost effective at anywhere from $35 to $100 each.

The magazine pile seems unstable.

If you can get a bunch of hardcover books that stack to the same height, put a piece of table glass on top. Less likely to knock over the piles that way and spills won't hurt the books.

Just hope no one spills a drink. Or a bowl of soup.

Some great resources for obtaining large coffee table books for a fraction of their retail price are garage sales or flea markets. I also like to buy used books on Amazon. As far as the magazine pile, a wall or some type of structure is needed to help maintain the pile. -Rebecca

i guess it's functional... if you don't like reading books.

If you happen to have a crap ton of books that you won't feel interested in ever browsing through, I think the glass top idea could be cool, if you can get a level surface out of your books.

Books are already functional.


Buying used books on Amazon to pile up? Maybe if you're using your company's Fed Ex account.

If this look is a must for you, why not just decoupage the book covers over whatever surface material you want? Greater stability, spillproof, and you can still read the books.

I don't see why this keeps being plugged as such a great idea on AT. True, it gets comments, but does anyone really want to do this?

I would be anal about all the books being perfectly aligned. and since I bump into thiings frequently those books would always need aligning. :)

stubbed toe and a paper cut all in one! ;-)

I have a pile (12) of my old oxblood/gold trim leather bound encyclopedias from 1985 as a little side table near a lounge chair in my living room. It only works because it's a low table and every 3rd book is on an angle. Any taller or all stacked the same way looks weird (like someone happened to leave encyclopedias in a pile on the floor) and could end up in a pile very easily. Also, I don't feel the need to look up stuff in them since we now have a little something called the internet. I felt bad throwing them away. Sadly, not a big demand for 23 year old reference materials. However, I do get lots of compliments on it from friends.

The magazine pile however doesn't work in real life. I knocked over a pile of 8 or so magazines at the dentist's the other day just trying to pick up the magazine on top. So, yeah some of us may not be graceful enough for magazines as a side table.

more book posts! people get so angry when books are used for non-reading purposes.

I guess it's a good alternative to burning them! ;)

"...but does anyone really want to do this?"

Nope - Nobody wants to do this because it's a dumb idea.

I love the headline "Making Your Books Functional". Isn't that achieved by reading them?

No.

any idea what the gray paint color is on the walls??

as is pretty obvious from the tenor of the above posts, we are not really fond of this kind of "functional" uses for books. :-P
seems like our books are sufficiently functional in their original purpose.

but then we guess that each time you want a post to get into the hot post group, you look for a stupid way to use books. that always seems to do it :-D

People who have so many books that they could ostensibly spare enough to make a table tend to claim they'll all be referred to often enough to justify the shelf space. I like the encyclopedia idea above (occupant222), but/and(?) it's not like you're often going to have a sufficient stack of books you'd consider completely obsolete without purchasing them for the express purpose of making a table - then what happens when you get bored of it?

Um, I'm with everyone else on this... my books *are* functional. They function extremely well as books.

Honestly, this is one of the dumber things I've seen on AT.

ha. i buy books to read them, not to pile them up.

seriously, if you're THAT in need of surface area, hit up your local goodwill for some nifty tables.

and besides, what if all of a sudden you're hankering to read the princess di bio at the bottom of your dining room table?

That "coffee table" is an un-cleanable dust magnet.

Pulease. This is nonsense.

The magazine photo was used a couple of months ago for the same article.

Those of us that have that many books, prefer to keep them out of harms way and make them useful by reading them. Others prefer to buy a $50 coffee table rather than $50 plus for each book.

Piling books up like that for extended periods of time breaks the side binding. Then again, if you're stupid enough to order books off Amazon just to decorate with them, you kind of deserve it.

*

jeez, lighten up people!!

Also appearing on Apartment Therapy:

Illuminating ways to turn your table lamp into a thermos!

Hot Topic: Make toast with a Pier One Candelabra!

Green Screen: Use 45 hampster wheels to power your television!


Seriously...did I take crazy pills this morning or is it just April 1st again? Repurposing has its limits.

Yes, let's make it obvious to all our visitors that not only do we NOT READ our books, we also disrespect and damage them by using them as a table.
*Rolls eyes.*
Just buy a flippin' table.