apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

That has got to be one of the dumbest decorating ideas I have ever seen... What, pray tell, is so offensive about actually seeing book spines and being able to read the titles?

on this past weeks DesignStar on HGTV the one team had their books turned spine in. It was a really quick shot, and I thought I saw it wrong. Apparently this must be a new trend . . .

Do not want.

How silly. What's the use of keeping all those books if you can't find what you are looking for?

OK, this is just WRONG on so many obvious levels that it doesn't bear going into.

That said, I DO admire the contrasting paint color on the back of the bookcase, and also the library ladder (first photo). Of course, such a ladder bespeaks a bibliophile, whereas the book arrangement argues otherwise...

note to editor: "....can't bare (sic) to part with." ???

This is absurd.

Ridiculous. I agree with others on this post...nothing to aspire to here.

What. No, seriously, WHAT. How on earth are you supposed to be able to find anything?

The mind boggles.

YUCK. seriously.

Not only is this impractical, I think it's terribly ugly as well.

WTF? I think I need to find another design blog, this is getting, well, really really dumb. This would make my life better... how?

If one hates the 'cluttered' look of books on shelves enough to turn them spine in (thus rendering bookshelves effectively useless) why not simply put them away in boxes or get rid of them? Honestly this is just dumb, dumb, dumb.

You want a uniform look? Make paper grocery bag dust jackets for all your books, the way we used to do with middle-school textbooks. Or go crazy and use wrapping paper or wallpaper ends. At least that way you can write the title and author on the spine so you can find things.

so...how do i find the book im looking for...

I think it looks good though, so maybe it's something new to try for ppl who keep books around so that they'll look cultured, but not actually read them?

Most ppl I would say are not going to be able to do this...

this disgusts me. society has sunk to a new low if this is considered something to aspire to.

There's something particularly anti-intellectual or anti-, well, *reading,* about turning your books spine side in. If someone has this many books, one would thing they had gained a certain pleasure from reading them; in which case, why not show them off? But I don't blame Apartment Therapy; it's just the messenger of a bad idea.

Finally, a trend even more ridiculous than organizing books by color.

I do not like this at all. Completely non-functional.

Oh, good gravy. If they bother you that much, put them in a cabinet or some boxes in the basement.

the first picture is lovely, but only because of the colors. This is obviously a bad idea. i never understand why books would be considered ugly.

I once had a friend who did this in her home. She had an all white decor (and I mean ALL white!) and this was her way of making her books blend in. I found it ridiculous then and I find it ridiculous now. She was one of those people who had to keep up appearances no matter what and had a twisted sense of reality. Say no more!
http://www.notyourgoddess.blogspot.com/

I agree with everyone else - this is just dumb. If you really, really want to see white pages instead of the spine, wouldn't it be a lot more practical to shelve them spine-up so that in elevation you would see the bottom edge of the book - but standing at the bookcase you might actually be able to find a specific one? Even that seems silly though.

This reminds me of a) Gatsby's library and b) those people who don't cook but still insist on having designer kitchens with top-of-the-line appliances and equipment.

If your books' visual non-uniformity on the shelf strikes you as cluttered, get a Kindle and give your books to someone who will appreciate them for what they are.

I agree with everyone else. This is truly silly.

If you don't like seeing the books and you've read them, donate them to a library. If you can't part with them, consider putting doors on your bookcases to turn them into book cabinets.

hahahahahahaha

I love this. It's similar to buying pretty leather bound books of classics in bulk merely to fill your bookcase and seem educated..... :-P

I actually don't like looking at all the book spines in our overcrowded bookcases. that's why our bookcases have frosted glass doors! Unlike the design-challenged individuals who came up with the "spines-in" idea, we actually READ our books.... so we'd like to be able to find them ;-)

oh, and since this could be considered a modern design website... I must comment that we have officially lost sight of the premise "form follows function".

This only, sort of, makes sense for a staged photograph that's going into a publication that will be translated, if you don't want people to realize that, or if you don't want people distracted by the titles. Still, silly.

It looks better than the chaotic color/pattern jumble of the typical bookshelf. That said, it's not practical. Books you want to keep should go into cabinets if you want the room to look visually organized. Otherwise, you should just embrace the chaos. Or get matching or coordinated stretch bookcovers for your book collection.

I think this is just something done by catalog stylists to keep the colors of the book spines from competing with what they really want you to be looking at, the furniture or whatever it they are selling.

I've seen this done in Showhouse rooms...
...IMO, it's even dumber than arranging books by color.

no.
fail.

you know how you read a blog about parenting and there are always people who disagree about how to raise kids and someone has to go and say something like, "your kids should be taken away from you."

that is how this makes me feel. these books should be taken away from the person who did this. they should be put in a home where they will be treated humanely.

/outrage

Dorthy Allison has an essay about pornography in which she details house-sitting for someone with an extraordinary literary pornography collection. . . all stored spine to the wall, in the back of a linen closet. this photo of a spine-to the wall library makes me dwell sadly on the burden of shame.

NO NO NO NO NO.

What a waste of time and resources.
This has got to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen on AT.

This is definitely the most stupid idea I've seen in a very very very long time. As oh so many others have said it might look orderly, but if you actually read your books it's not practical at all, and if you just want to show off with them it runs contrary to that purpose, too, because every thinking person will notice that if you read your books you wouldn't place them like that, thus destroying the appearance you want to create.

Apart from that it's great to see that even native speakers (and even those who are writing for a living) can't keep apart homophones (as mirandabee already pointed out)
:)

stupid.

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I'm torn about this.

I love books. I was once a bookseller, and I own hundreds of books. They overwhelm my apartment- not just in number, but also with their clashing colors. Just because I love the CONTENTS of a books doesn't mean I love its COVER. It's a shame, but some of my favorite books have very unattractive covers!

So, I find my love of literature and my love of aesthetics in conflict... why can't this be a solution for some of my "less read" tomes?

A good way to blend in your regular books with the porn titles when mom visits. Maybe this explains the "bare."

Whoah! So many twisted panties! Is this that big of a deal, really? I mean, it's certainly silly and impractical, but what's with all the people calling for scotched AT earth over this?

I don't know where that first image is from originally - it was definitely in one of my shelter magazines. Country Living? Cottage Living? I remembered it immediately, because I so LOVED the use of color on the walls and especially the way that sofa fabric tied in with everything. They had a couple other photos of that room with different views.

Meh on the books arranged like that. It's silly, I think, and everyone would have the same thought: How do you know where your books are?! But it is pretty, I have to admit. Books all mishmashed make a nice display in a dark, manly, oak-panelled library, but in bright and vibrant spaces, the mishmash of colors can blur into gray and distract from the overall look. I'm left torn - got a nice barrister bookcase, but don't like the way my books look displayed in it! I want to display other stuff that draw the eye. So, the books go... where?!

It's pretty, but impractical. I like the look, just don't know if I have the patience to turn all my books inside out. I've seen this aesthetic at a lot of design stores and in catalogs, I would love to know who started it and why. Thanks AT for posting trends no matter how awesome or asinine they may be, and don't let the the AT bitch criticisms get you down.

Not in my world! I like to see my books' titles and authors' names. Might as well fill the shevles with reams of copy paper. It's about the same look.

what a silly thing to do. donate the books to a library, school, or community center if you don't need them.

This is just one of those design-y clever things. Nobody real lives like this.

Or maybe they like surprises. It's a bit like packing stuff away and then retrieving it after a year or 6 months and realizing one has forgotten what one owned...

but if the spines are turned in, how can house guests read all of the impressive titles you own and be in awe of your literary prowess?

I'll admit, it does look rather nice. and yes, we all have books that we probably haven't opened in years but keep regardless. however, I can't imagine anything more frustrating than actually needing one of them and having to pull out every single book to find it.

It could be a good plan for somebody antsy to change up the visuals of a room for no money. it seems like a phase someone might go through until the novelty wore off. I do think there are worse things than *gasp* not constantly using books you've already read, like never reading them in the first place.

Okay, someone has to comment in defense of this. Yes, I do use this in my own home. And I'm about as pure a book-lover as they come. I'm an author for a living!

Here's why: I'm at the stage of having a significant number of books that could come in handy professionally...someday. (Signed books, coffee table books students couldn't afford but I could lend, books of literary criticism.) But at the moment I don't have a teaching office. That means all those books have to live at home with me--specifically, in my bedroom, the only locale where I have built-in shelving.

Having the spines of a bunch of academic books staring at me, visible from the bed, is depressing. I won't be accessing these books anytime soon; I won't be reading (or re-reading) them for fun. They're basically in storage.

So, I turn them spine-in, creating a much calmer texture of varying shades of white. On the rare occasion over the past year that I have needed one, it has never taken me more than 10 minutes to locate. You'd be shocked how easy it is to ID a book based on size and paperstock alone, if you know your library well.

Why?

Am I the only one who was immediately reminded of Vienna's Holocaust memorial?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judenplatz_Holocaust_Memorial

What about books you never read again? And if you need to find it, you do a little searching. It's a cleaner aesthetic for some. AT readers certainly think they're high-and-mighty today...turning your book spines in doesn't make you love your books any less.

mirandabee has pulled you up already on 'bare' versus 'bear' --and what's with the use of 'We' all of a sudden??

C'mon, Geoff, don't let the side down! I did a happy dance when I saw your use of apostrophes and first person in the try out post...

My first assumption when seeing books with the spines turned in is porn. If I see a book on someone's shelf turned backwards, I'll take a peek. Nine times out of ten it's either porn or self-help.

Other then being a little impractical for the heavy re-reader, I cannot seem to understand why everyone is so seemingly offended at this idea. Just chill out. If someone wants to reduce visual clutter in a small space by flipping their books then who cares? It looks kind of nice and I'm sure it isn't very hard to find the one you want if you keep them even a little bit organized.

I have a ton of books that I've read that I will not be getting rid of. I don't care to donate them either, maybe I'm selfish ... but they mean a lot to me and some are quite rare and took me a long time to find. I trimmed my collection down dramatically, but this might actually be something that I try when I get really sick of looking at all the jumbled covers. Paper covers would obviously be better ... but I do not have the time or patience.

this is so thouroughly a case of they have gone up their own arses. And what editors would approve these pics?

Someone call the book police, apparently I need to be thrown in design jail for committing this horendous crime! My fluorescent orange, green and red novel covers weren't jiiving with my calm neutral living room so I flipped the books on the radiator around, spine in. Guilty as charged! It's not THAT bad people, seriously. Get over it.

Interesting idea. Maybe it could be used with a bookshelf that was hinged to the wall like a door, and could be swung out when you wanted to locate a particular book.

that would be so annoying. What's the point of having the books then? i am always looking at my bookshelf to see if there's something I want to read. if that's how my shelves were arranged I would go crazy. but i guess if someone likes it do it.

I, a librarian, like this. I like looking at the pages of my favorite books more than I like looking at their spines or covers, mostly. I would still know what books are on my shelf and be able to lay my hands on the one I want quickly.

Maybe I'm just OCD, but I think if I did this in my own home, or saw it in someone elses, I would be inclined to turn them all spine-side-out every time I looked at them. It's funny how we are used to seeing objects a certain way. To me, spine-side-in is like wearing clothing inside out. Then again, it's really no more ridiculous than any other catalog or magazine interior. My house looks nothing like what I see in catalogs and magazines, mostly because I actually live in it. I see interior design like high fashion...pretty to look at but certainly not practical. If nothing else, it's kind of funny.

I don't like this idea either (along with most people). But what irritates me even more is that this idea and other book-hating ideas have been repeated several times on AT-do the writers/editors like annoying us, or is it a cynical attempt to generate large numbers of comments. Anyway, it's boring me rigid.

Pretentious and absurd - just no!

Please stop trying to "design" the layout of bookcases and just let us enjoy having books in our homes

What is the point?

So we are "high-and-mighty" for liking (eeeek!) to look at books they are meant to be looked at? Please.

I saw this look a couple years ago in a Pottery Barn catalog. If I remember correctly, it was an entire wall, not just one small bookshelf.

I must add that I don't like the color coded book arrangement either. I just don't understand what's so repulsive about books that you cannot bear to look at. And the worst is the people who actually go out of their way to buy books BECAUSE of their color, regardless of what they are. I once met someone who sold books to decorators by color.

I love the way it looks in certain rooms. The first room - with its simple beach-cottage vibe - would look to busy with a bunch of book spines. This is the design esthetic I use in my home, and I have a few stacks of books turned in. It really isn't as repulsive as y'all make it out to be.

...In fact, the whole notion of being repulsed by a book organization technique is hilarious to me. Can anyone articulate to me what is so offensive about this? And colour-coordinated book spines?

And this: "this disgusts me. society has sunk to a new low if this is considered something to aspire to." (posted by vhsdr)

Really? Society?

I dunno. Maybe the AT community just needs to get laid. (Although it would probably mess up the sheets - THE HORROR.)

i was thinking of turning my tv toward the wall...

FUSSY YUPPIES. Please get a life or else I'm going to have to start my own interiors blog.

gotard that's a brilliant idea -- a clean, matte black (or silver) is so much more aesthetically pleasing than something that might risk inspiring thought, creativity, or imagination if you're "distracted" by diversity.

There are also things called "doors" and "drawers". Getting shelves with them, and placing non-aesthetic books in them, doors and drawers closed, can also attain a clean look. And you can paint them if you get tired of their color later on!

as everyone else has said so stupid. also, arranging books but color is a ridiculous notion. how about people structuring bookshelves according to function. I have hundreds and hundreds of books. I am always best served by taking a hint from an actual library, and sorting books by subject and content.

This seems impractical. Not only would it make books more difficult to locate, but they would also be more difficult to dust.

I'm not sure why anyone who doesn't like the look of books on a bookshelf and clearly doesn't read the books, would go to the trouble of putting up bookshelves and unpacking a swack of books. If you gave the books away - it would solve the problem of having to dust them as well
wierd

This is hands-down one of the dumbest things I have ever seen. If you're keeping books on your shelves instead of packing them away in boxes or getting rid of them, it's generally because you want to be able to get to them - why on EARTH would you turn them backwards so you can't find anything?!

It's funny the way the backlash against any criticism of an AT post inevitably exaggerates and misrepresents the criticism. Design police? Sco[r]ched earth? Twisted panties? Not hardly. It's just that the majority think this is a silly and foolish idea, design-wise. Nobody's calling for blood, just calling it as they see it.

Silly people, criticism isn't a big deal. Nothing gets better without it.

This would probably give me severe anxiety... unless the bookshelf is a secret door, and I could get to the book titles from my secret reading nook.

I love this!

I like it, personally. I am a computer scientist and have a bookshelf full of infrequently-used reference books: I bought them once to learn something, and now keep them just in case I need them "someday". They are all garish and ugly. I am torn between turning them inside-out (like this) or putting white slipcovers on them (which would take forever)!