Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Faux Bookshelves


Love the "walls of books" look, but don't have enough books (or enough room) to pull it off? Here's a clever idea -- paper one or more of your library walls with bookshelf wallpaper.

The owner and designer (Lynda Gardner) says: these photos are from the library which was once a horrible tiny bedroom which barely fit a single bed……it now has a wall filled with real books alongside a wall of Deborah Bowness wallpaper,…this room also has a couple of leather 1930s chairs, a star light handed down as a family heirloom and a cow skin hide….a cosy place to sit opposite an open fire on the opposite wall.

This is from Design*Sponge, and I strongly recommend the entire post featuring the house of Lynda Gardner -- it is incredible in every way.

(quick tip: Do a google search for "bookcase wallpaper" "book wallpaper" and "bookshelf wallpaper" for lots of different styles and price points.)

6 comments:

Mr. Brassica said...

That looks really horrible with the black and white (why??) and the repeating pattern every foot. Ugh.

I like the concept though.

Elisabeth said...

yeah, that paper isn't the best. Nor is it a novell idea. In Portland Maine - The Portland Regency - there is a bar in the basement level. There they have a great example of book wallpaper. If interested, take a peak, you don't have to be a patron to go in that area.

Waterbug said...

I'd guess the B&W is to say "hey, I'm not being dishonest", but I don't get it either.

2D wall paper in a 2D photo looks "normal", but in person, in a small room, I think it would be more fake than faux.

Sara, I'm still glad you posted this picture, as I am of all your posts. It's still interesting and steampunk.

Waterbug said...

Now that I looked at the entire house at Design*Sponge I'd have to back peddle. As Grace said, and Sara quoted "a horrible tiny bedroom". Clearly this was a problem room that probably didn't leave a lot of options. I can see this wall paper being better than many other options.

Now that I checked Deborah Bowness's site I see the reason, or idea for the wall paper color scheme. It's intent is not to be faux.

I was too quick to judge. Not good for most rooms, not good as "faux bookshelves", but this wasn't most rooms. This was more like camouflage.

Mr. Brassica said...

What is a "tiny problem room?" I don't understand your logic.

Tiny rooms (as long as they're big enough to, you know... stand up in, and have furniture at all) should be pretty much the easiest ones to decorate in an awesome way. A single piece will take on so much more power, plus you know more about the perspective of the visitor, since there are fewer places for them to be. Plus, the room is not obligated to serve a specific constrained purpose like cooking food, etc.

In other words, there should be MORE options by far, if anything. For example, if you wanted to line a room with an impactful copper surface or some sort, as in the recent entry, a tiny little room would make the statement both more intense and affordable.

Waterbug said...

Tiny is a relative term. In this case a bedroom that "could barely fit a single bed". So I'd guess 9' or less in one dimension since 10x10 would be a small bedroom. However, the author is free to decide for herself what tiny is and I take her at her word.

I for one would not enjoy being in a walk-in closet converted into a library if certain design choices were made. For example. I should think a beam or coffered ceiling, wood paneling, a large fireplace mantel, big heavy draperies and valances, large furniture, heavy large art work, a large area rug, etc... would make an already tiny room into an unusable caricature.

Unfortunately for my limited design experience I would no doubt have fewer choices in a tiny room than a master designer. But to have more choices in a tiny space than a large space is a concept I cannot fathom. At best it would seem there would be the same number of choices since a large room could always be divided into smaller spaces.

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