apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I agree that the whole thing is silly and just a bit icky. It makes me think that someone who would do this has way too much time on their hands. Next, the person will be putting lace doilies between each piece of paper.

I actually LOVE the way it looks in all white. I want to do this eventually and I would probably use clear labels with very lightly written book titles. I know what books I own and I only have about 100 books so it will work great. And the cluttered colors of the book spines won't interfere with my decor.

And yes, I have time on my hands. Don't we all for the things we find important.

Grrrr. This makes me nuts. Why keep and display your books if you don't think they are beautiful as they are??

Exaggerated, hyperbolical, over the top... I like my dictionary. Wouldn't ever think about doing this.

it's not as offensive as this trend of using books as decoration rather than for their primary purpose (you can buy books by the box and specify spine color). that irritates me waaaaaaaay more than someone wanting her books to match her room.

Some people may choose to cover their books to protect the covers from scratches and other types of damage. I don't do this at home, but I work in the Special Collections department of a library, and we cover every book's dust jacket with a translucent acid-free material. It really only matters if your books are valuable, rare, etc......or if you are anal! :)

Why not just put all the books in backwards, like that scene from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?

less clutter. i like it for myself.

I don't like the kraft covers - it looks like some fake display in a furniture store, like if you opened the books they would be blank - or solid pieces of wood. Our books are currently arranged by his and hers, but I'm dying to rearrange them (fiction and non-fiction, then by author). My hubby is a little territorial about his books though. I also do love when I see books arranged by color - but, though easier than the kraft paper, still not very practical for reference...

My partner and me are keen readers so we host around 4000 books at home. I would never kraft them, for me its also like a fake looking display in a furniture store. I found them quite flattering in the living room and our "office". We store them in simple white Billy shelfs from IKEA.

i could never do this to my books...it would feel like i'm trying to hide them, because i'm embarassed of them...and that would make them sad, and likely give them serious mental issues when they become adults.

K T G you're right, I've seen bookshelves with hidden spines recently and it looked great. Something like this - I think the bottom shelf looks great:

http://www.potterybarn.com/products/p8717/index.cfm?pkey=ccabinets%2Darmoires

I kind of like it...at least it beats the stupid, never-ending trend of arranging one's books by color.

yea, okay. ocd much?

Wouldn't it be simpler to get doors for the bookcases and leave open shelves for the tschotchkes?

Over the years I've realized that I locate my books by their colour. This wouldn't work for me, and in fact my eyes bugged out a bit when I saw the photo. Nightmare!

Maybe if you arranged your books by the Dewey decimal system or just plain old alphabetically by author ...

I dislike it. A lot.

I despise this.

My books (and there are a lot of them) are gorgeous, authentic, and don't need to be covered up. I also dislike the "organizing by colour trend" as I couldn't handle scattering books from the same author or series all over my bookcases...

It feels like someone forgot to unwrap them.

If the look of books upsets the balance of the decor so much that they need to be covered, then I think that using a closed cabinet is a better idea than covering them.

That being said, you could do this with white paper and print the book's information on clear labels (in grey) and affix them to the spine for a way to identify them.

I'd never do this as it seems a bit silly and I don't think we should be hiding everything we own for the sake of decor, particularly when it interferes with functionality.

Somehow this bugs me less than people who arrange their books by color. At least with this you can still put things together in some kind of order that makes sense. I prefer the brown covers to the white, though.

If I saw this in someone's home, I would assume this person rarely bothered to read anything. And why would someone who rarely reads accumulate this much reading material? Makes no sense.

Well, if we've learned nothing else, any post involving books is going to be lively.

I just did this to a small bookcase in my room which contains my favorites, going with the translucent paper.

You can see the books, and their colors, it's just muted. And the books are protected, in theory. When I read one, I slip it out of the dustcover.

Also: I am indeed anal. Neener neener.

I have many books. I love to read. I love this and have thought about doing something similar many times over the years. I've never done it, though, because I've never had that much time. Right now I'm trying to scan old programs and playbills to rid myself of boxes and boxes of them. At least it keeps me out of trouble.

horrible, just horrible, this is worse than arranging them by colour.

I agree with AT. I took note of it both times, and have concluded that it's ridiculous. It's so "done" looking that I think it's tacky. There are lots of people out there who want to live in a space that looks like a set. I'm just not one of them.

Doesn't anyone else remember covering - being required to cover - textbooks in school, the usual method being the paper grocery bag?

Imagine all of a sudden, this being a fancy idea.

... hum, hum... it seems that a lot of people dislike this way of covering books.

Well, I must say that I love it and I have done the same for years. I love the idea of having all the books looking the same, adding some mistery and the unique pleasure of taking one to discover which one it is.

This is how my library looks ( http://storage.canalblog.com/56/85/165206/26072296.jpg ) and I use a great software (delicious library) to manage the list.

It's idiotic.

Awesome, JPC..

Imagine if Grandmother's creepy old Jetsons furniture became highly desirable, or spraypainting flea-market lamps red became fancy, or buying other people's old stuff online became fancy, or stringing together some scraps and selling it on etsy became fancy, oh gosh, it'd be ghastly, just ghastly!

it's martha-stewart affected; this homeowner doesn't read so kill the book image. it's embarrassing. it's a display of books as if to suggest depth and worldliness. it's staging, bad karma and keeps one from home.

(gee such a negative 1st-time comment!).

I am confused by the assumption that you can't read and enjoy a dustjacketed book?

New books come with them, is that disrespectful?

Come ON, people.

I like JPC's library much better than the posted one. That, I could kind of deal with, it's done in a much more interesting way (and it comforts me to know that you actually have a system in place for locating your books).

I think the original post looks like the books are props and not something to be read. I like to check out people's bookshelves when I'm in their home, and i wouldn't be able to!

I like all sorts of book displays. It is always fun to see how people choose to arrange their books. I have friends and colleagues who organize according to subject matter or author. There are also those who arrange by colors and those that cover their books.

So in the end, all that matters is that you arrange your books according to what works for you. And as my grandfather always told me, if someone has a problem with it, "he or she can go f*** themselves."

That's all well and good, and I understand people like this homogenous look, but it's gazoo. The effort, the perfection, and the strange appeal of a common meat-wrapping paper to set off the library. It protects the books from dust, glare, curiosity, and perhaps immediate recognition, while protecting the inhabitants and guests alike from pedestrian normal book colors, potentially discordant, and titles you're not proud to own.

I'm not in the home of a relaxed person here. It's fussy and uptight. They've gone and spent a while individually wrapping and labeling all their books, to demonstrate the luxury of time and concern to attend to this strange detail. It's not that the look can't be marvelous, but yeah, it is telling of a mindset, and that's where you get revulsion from some of the crowd.

This, unlike the color-arranged books, can be arranged by topics and authors, so shouldn't upset the avid readers and book-owners as much. JPC's display is more like a sculpture or a focal point... I wouldn't like to see it copied so much, as it has some originality to it that copying the magazine page just doesn't carry.

But like Seaside's grandfather said, in so many words, don't let that keep you from doing what you like.

I like Neutoplan's way of using the transparent kraft so that the color still kind of shines through.

I might do this. It's a great way of protecting your books, and the labels on the spines give that feeling that every book-o-phile loves, of being in a library. This would work especially well on my small collection and help make my college apt. look just that much nicer.

Another thought, is that you don't have to use plain brown or white paper. If you want the color organization, you could use colored paper, and still have all of your books in order alphabetically or by Dewey Decimal or whatever system you choose. You could even use patterned paper....though that might be a bit expensive for something that is supposed to be nice and cheap. ^_^

Really love the labels on the spines.

I suppose it would be one thing if I had a reading room or an office, but without either, I keep many (many) books, and I find that they contribute a lot of unwanted color and noise. It only adds to the distraction that I know the books well -- like a collage of familiar faces that covers half a wall: kind of cool, but not my speed, not for daily life. And while I really love the appearance of some of my books, others are NOT beautiful as they are -- they're only there for the words. Sure, I might become fond of their quirks while I'm reading them, but I'd be thrilled to hide the ugly the rest of the time. And of course it would be easy to organize dust covered books -- it's just like a library!