Sunday, April 14, 2013

Bookshelves


from Renee Claire
Bookshelves make a home... they bring warmth, wisdom, love, and colour into the room. With bookshelves comes openness, connection and community. We don't have enough bookshelves in our home - so I've been scouring for idea's. Here's just some that I'm excited about.

from Renee Claire - bookshelves

from Annes Built ins & Bookcases
 What can I say, some of these examples just make you want to read, some make me want to write, and some just make me want to sit. I think that's what I'm looking for at home, and haven't quite got.

from Leife Shallcross - bookshelf envy

from Leife Shallcross at Bookshelf Envy
There are some hurdles to get over when it comes to choosing bookshelves - like
  • size of the house and rooms
  • style of the house
  • built in or fee standing
  • white or light coloured, timber, or dark colours
  • do i have to redecorate the whole room
  • can i afford it?
I found an interesting article highlighting 33 of the best bookshelf designs, but I still come back to thinking it needs to be right for your house, your use, and you lifestyle. What are some of the other things I should be thinking about? and what makes a bookshelf work for you? I'd love to hear your thoughts..

5 comments:

Bellezza said...

I do not have nearly enough bookshelves, either, and so I often donate books to other homes. But, I'd love to surround myself with the one that has a window eps eat before the tree! Gorgeous!

skiourophile said...

Those people who can live with the 33 book designs are obviously far, far better than me at not hanging on to every single book they've ever owned! In an ideal world, I would go to for a room devoted solely to books, a proper library space. With a ladder!

Jeanie said...

Hi, Tamara, Happy Sunday! I don't have enough book shelves and they're all different which doesn't exactly lend itself to fine decorating! I fear my house is a mishmash of everyone else's past! I think when you save all your books, or most of them, you have a built in problem!

My latest someone-else's shelves (yesterday) are deep -- about 15 inches deep -- which means I can put in TWO layers of books. And volumes of art magazines I can't make myself toss!

Nice to see your post! Happy day.

Tamara said...

Hello my lovely friends. Bellezza, that window image has almost got me convinced to turn the whole spare room into a book nook. Vicki - I'm glad you saw the horrow in those designer shelves too - I too would love a ladder (and the house that would need one!). Jeanie - two layers of books - you'd need some sort of catelogue for that system, wouldn't you?

Unknown said...

The bookshelf designs are funky but really, I think, a bit unrealistic if you're a real book lover/collector.

We've just moved to our new house so what we're going to do with all our books is a primary issue at the moment. It obviously depends on your style and how many books but, I really like a mismatch of styles.

We have an old oak bookshelf in the living room made of old door panels, but we now have a fireplace and are going to bank out all one side with shelves and books (maybe also a hi-fi)as wekk

Then the extras will go in the third bedroom. We were planning a whole wall of books but it may be too much for a small (now darker since we painted it green!) room, so perhaps a few white shelves dotted around.
What type of property do you live in? Ours is a very old cottage so I think masses of books works quite well.

Anything you do you can always change :-) playing around with ideas is the fun of it!