What do we love more than libraries, bookcases, bookshelves, and the organizing and beautifying of libraries here on Apartment Therapy? Well, we're not quite sure if we love anything more. And in terms of ideas for your library, 2009 did not disappoint.
• 1 Add unique bookends, like this "Bookushion," or a light modeled after the lamps in the New York Library.
High and Low: Gifts for the Home Library by Susie Nadler
• 2 Put your books in your dining room.
Look! Library Dining Rooms by Kristen Lubbe
• 3 Or, put a bookcase in the kitchen and use it for dish storage.
Lawyer's Bookcase in the Kitchen by Sarah Coffey
• 4 Paint your bookshelves a funky color, such as Benjamin Moore's "Prairie Green."
Painted Bookshelves in a Colorful Library by Janel Laban
• 5 Add vintage "library-like" accessories, such as a bust or card-catalog pulls.
Vintage Library Style Roundup by Sarah Rainwater
• 6 Put one funky bookshelf into the mix, like this city map shelf bookcase by Markus Fischer.
City Map Shelf Bookcase by Markus Fischer by Molly Anderson
• 7 Use a bookshelf to divide your spaces.
Inspiration: Using Your Bookcase as a Room Divider by Beth Zeigler
• 8 Use bookcases or a bookshelf as a headboard.
Bookshelf Headboards by Regina Yunghans
• 9 Add sliding chalkboard covers.
Flickr Find: Catherine's Before and After Bookshelf by Beth Zeigler
• 10 If you don't like the look of shelves, make them invisible.
How To: Make Your Own Invisible Bookshelf Regina Yunghans
• 11 Don't forget to bulk-up your design section with the classic books for decorating and design a home.
Setting Up Home: A Basic Reading List by Leah Moss
• 12 And don't forget about this year's stunners, either.
10 New Design Books for the Wishlist by Janel Laban
• 13 For something really funky, turn the spines in on your bookshelves.
Bookshelf Display: Book Spines Turned In by Geoff Bentz
• 14 Let's not forget the color debate. Is organizing by color fabulous or awful? Good Quotes: On Arranging Books by Color by Gregory Han
• 15 Lastly, remember that lived-in libraries are homey and cozy. It's okay if they accumulate a bit of ordered clutter, or are full to bursting.
Lived-In Libraries by Ronee Saroff
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I have tried something new this year. I get one shelf (which holds about 30 books total) of books that I use and that is it. I hung onto graphic novels (which I do re-read often), poetry, and everything else went to a local used book store. I edited my collection down by well over 500 books this year. I have 2 shelves of things I kept (the poetry and gn's) and 1 smaller shelf of books I'm currently reading. If it doesn't get read in 6 months it is out the door. Once I'm done it is out the door. New books only come in in smaller numbers than they go out. It was really scary at first but it has been a great relief in some ways. If there is something I want to look up? I have the internet. If I want to reread something I go get it at the local used bookstore when I sell back something else. And it freed up a huge amount of space.
Love it! Great ideas.
I do not understand at all why you would arrange books by color. But I love the look of libraries. In my apartment there are 3 large bookcases, and we could stand to have more. So I really want to make my living room feel like an old fashioned English library.
Why on earth would one turn the spines in? Makes no sense to me.
I've arranged some of my books by spine color...It's a fun way to make it look organized when all of your furniture is as cheap as it gets (a college student's budget - most of it was free off the curb or bought on sale at Target).
But I agree...nothing weirder than turning the spines in. Doesn't really make you want to read them, does it, if you have to flip them all around individually to find the one you want?
like #3, i have a bookcase in my kitchen and use it to store all my steamware and everything white (bowels, platters, dry storage containers). i think it looks great and love the functionality
i think books arranged by color look incredibly contrived. i don't think i would have a good impression of someone if i went into their library and knew they had spent several days obsessively organizing their books by color.
I also think this arranging your books by colour is rather ridiculous.
Because I like to read in bed but don't like the clutter of bookshelves in every room, I store them in a sideboard in the bedroom. Not only does it hold a lot of books, but it also keeps them free of dust.
Wow, loudly quiet, I'm so impressed! I'm about to move into my first house from years of renting, and I need to purge my book collection. I've stored most of it at my parent's house, because they are my least favourite thing to move, and I want to get them back now that I won't be moving for a while, but there are too many! I need to go through and sort out which ones I am never going to read, which ones I wish I would read but won't, which ones I have read and won't again. I want my bookshelves to be functional as well as beautiful. They're not JUST something that people can judge me by at parties :P
I currently have them arranged by colour, which I quite like. But I think when I move i will divide it into fiction and non fiction, and THEN do it by colour within those groups. I don't have too much trouble finding anything (that's how I remember books a lot of the time, anyway) but I think splitting them up will take away that small amount of looking time. I also have my cooking books in the kitchen, and my crafting books with my craft stuff, so that things I use often are within easy grabbing range.
I'm going to use ideas 4 and 10. I wish could use 14, but I don't trust my fiance to adhere to the "rules," he'll put anything back anywhere, with zero respect for color. Sigh. Idea 13 doesn't make any sense; how can you possibly find what you are looking for?!
Spines in? SPINES IN??? Wow. I missed that one the first time around, but I nominate it for "Designers Have Gone TOO FAR 2009."
I know I already said this, but wow. I can even understand form over function, but completely obliterating function?
Thank you this was such a great article.
I like the clean look of the spines-in, though it doesn't make much sense. Unless you organize each individual shelf by subject, and maybe write the titles or at least author's last name on the outside (inside?). Since my brain is usually too jumbled anyway, I enjoy the serene look, and often find bookcases to be a bit chaotic. Hmmm. Ideas. I also like the bookcase headboard, and may use it in my new apartment. But, since I'm a potter, I may just use my bookcase for, well, pottery.