Oh…bookshelves…there may be no better way to produce a frustrated home owner-DIYer than to force book arranging on them. And, by the way, decorators are a dime a dozen and they all have ideas about what’s right for you. So, let me break it down, you can totally do this yourself.
First, what’s your book personality? Do you have millions of books you can’t part with? Do you have twenty books total and lots of accessories? Are you somewhere in the middle?
Do you have a million books? This room works for a few reasons. The bookcase shelves are high, leaving a little breathing room in each shelf. The shelves fit in a defined area, corner to corner, so you don’t see six feet of jammed chaos followed by a blank wall (more on this in a future post). Bonus, the color arrangement is very defined, which is easy on the eyes.
This is NOT easy on the eyes. I can’t judge, I have had several bookcases in my day that looked and functioned just like this one. There is something about the person who lives here, a genius hard at work, in love with reading and learning. Not in love with design…
Do you have a few books and lots of accessories? This works because the shelfs make nice jogs back and forth with their placement of books and accessories. And, the items that visually weigh the most are at the bottom, grounding the whole piece.
Compare the black bookcase above to this one here. There is a shelf of books then one of accessories, one of books, one of accessories. Besides that the accessories are too small for the space they are claiming, there is no flow here, making my eyes stop visually.
So conquer your fears today. Rip all the books off the shelves and start over. Arrange by color, alternate accessories and reading, climb every mountain, ford every stream, follow every rainbow!!
AND…can you believe it, my bookshelf is finally finished! I arranged it by color, which I love, and added a few of my Dad’s vintage cameras. The whole area isn’t quite done…more pictures later.
(images from Apartment Therapy, The Spring Cure and Colour Lovers)
We are building a new house and it is going to have a "library"…I have 2 brown shelves that are pretty new and boring, but I am sure hubs does not want me to paint them…how can I change the way they look, without changing them? I'm hoping that the other pieces, textures, accessories and paint color will totally distract from them, but am still wondering if they will stick out like a sore thumb. Any ideas?
Awesome! I want to see more pics of your bookshelf! I love the color arrangement idea :) I organize mine by type (India books, Hindi books, Spiritual Growth, Fiction, Travel, etc) and it doesn't look good, but it's functional – not sure how to make it look good :) I'm one of those with millions of books… Maybe if I quit stacking other stuff on my bookshelf then it won't look so cluttered :) haha!
I LOVE the color coordinated thing – so cool!… I think I said that though….
LOVED this post. Can't wait to see your finished product. (Also can't wait to experiment with my next bookshelf.) Just so you know, checking your blog is part of my daily work routine. Always excitment when there is a new post!
The color idea is so great. I did it today and it looks lovely! Of course, Steve is going to go crazy looking for John MacArthur in the blues instead of the religion section! :)
Mary Beth- will they fit corner to corner on a wall? If not, I would hang art or lean a super tall mirror against the wall, or a big indoor plant next to them. Make your frames brown and that should help carry your eye visually back down from the height of the bookcases. I will be happy to look at a picture before you buy something :) You may also be able to put contact paper or wall paper on the inside back of the case, it may help to lighten the load and make any accessories really pop.
Carrie- thanks SO much!! I can't wait to hang out.
AS- yeah, it's hard to decide how to arrange them, and since several are in another language that makes it even more difficult!
Melissa- hysterical…