Book Bookshelf

We're a big fan of book and library based decor around here, and Rich found this article in the Sacramento Bee about how to build an extremely simple shelf from a hardback book...


Notice how they match the spine color with the wall color. And it's always fun to create thematic shelves based on your pick of books e.g. cookbooks or a knife based murder mystery (how about "Slip of the Knife" or "A Knife to Remember") for a kitchen.

Reversing Books

Elizabeth from One Must Shock the Bourgeois* is a frequent reader here, and I was browsing her blog after a recent comment (I do read them *all*, even if I don't reply) and found this intriguing idea: She flipped most of the books in her bookshelf spine side in.

Before

After

On pure aesthetics, it's a total win: The colors are more muted, more similar in tone. It's less distracting and cluttered. Her accessories are part of the same color scheme. It's lovely.

However there's no way it would fly at my house -- library organization was one of the most fraught negotiations of our early marriage, and not being able to see what books you have would defeat all organizational efforts -- but I thought it was interesting, nonetheless. Would you do this to your books?

*Just for the record, I'm firmly in the bourgeoisie, as defined by Wikipedia: part of the middle or merchant classes, and derived social and economic power from employment, education, and wealth. And not shocked by Elizabeth's blog--it takes more than reversed books to shock me. :)

A Perfect Library

Loved this library, designed by Sills Huniford Associates.

The ladder, the desk, the balloon curtains, the glass fronted bookshelves... they are just perfection.

via Things that Inspire.

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.)

Sharpie Art Library

Diana Peterfreund recently reminded me of this DIY library, created by amateur artist (lawyer by day) Charlie Kratzer with nothing more than a Sharpie Marker and a incredible amount of imagination and persistence.

Look carefully in this basement o' dreams and you'll see a drawing of the Kratzers' upstairs library — with Claude Monet, the greatest of the Impressionists, at the doorway. It's a tribute to Monet, but it's also a way of living with cultural influences: Kratzer and his wife, Deb, don't just keep them within book covers or admire them in museums. Their Picasso spends each day close to their pinball machine. Agatha Christie's shrewd little Belgian detective and his carefully pruned mustache hover over the deck door.



There are both The Walrus and the Carpenter (from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There), and William Shakespeare. The Marx Brothers peer around a corner. A flip-top garbage can is transformed via marker art into Star Wars' plucky little beeper R2D2.

The article and a 360 degree panorama is at the Lexington Herald Leader.

Jay Walker's Library

You *must* go see Wired Magazine's article on Jay Walker's library. Sputnik? Check. Original Anatomia Universa? Yep. Old surgical instruments? You bet. TRS-80 and the WWII Enigma machine? Wouldn't miss 'em.

The etched glass balustrades with all sorts of scientific references are wonderful, as is the Escher like tile floor (about the only thing here that is recreatable on a professionals budget, instead of a Priceline founder's budget...)

Any area of scientific inquiry can be found here, collected in a beautiful setting that shows just what treasures they are.

Writing on the Wall

My friend Patrick recently took this beautiful picture of the ceiling in the reading room of the main building at the University of Texas. Built in 1937, it made me realize that while using text as a decorating element has risen in popularity in the last couple of years, it is by no means a new phenomenon. (It says "The benefits of education and of useful knowledge, generally diffused though a community, are essential to the preservation of a free government. -- Sam Houston")

Here's another example from my library/dining room:


("I get a warm feeling among my books." --Anthony Powell) Although a less lofty sentiment, it suited the ambience of the room. While the reading room's phrase is painted, mine is done with Wonderful Graffiti, which makes it incredibly easy to create something suited perfectly to your environment -- you choose the color, size, font, and words. It goes on like a sticker (it's a bit harder than that -- you have to burnish it with a flat edge -- but easily done in an evening), and can come off without any permanent damage to your walls. (It's perfect if you rent.)

What quotes to use? At first I came up nil, but then ran across this one at the beginning of Cory Doctorow's new story: And I won’t always be this way, When the things that make me weak and strange get engineered away. —Jonathan Coulton, “The Future Soon” It has just the right sort of quirky appeal that I'd put into a bathroom. In my experience, if you just keep your eyes open, an appropriate quote will come across your radar. (And please, share any good ones you come across here.)

On Fantasy Libraries and Herringbone Floors

I'll be done with the library theme pretty soon, but I just ran across this "fantasy" library on Journal 703. It's lovely. He has the most romantic flooring discussion:

The floor I'd choose would be a floor I fell in love with as a fifteen year old boy in one of my friend's house. His parents had a beautiful federal style two story Colonial Revival home. Later, they added a traditional den/library to the back of the house. I've never forgotten the floor. It was brick; very smooth brick from an old street that was dug up and replaced in town. These bricks were reddish brown and very smooth. It had a sealed appearance that was very smooth. I later found out how they managed it. The brick was set, and sealed and coated with gloss polyurethane. On top of that were many coats of oxblood wax.

I'm a big fan of herringbone floors -- it's a unique way to use a standard rectangular shape, which means you can create a particularly unique floor pattern using off the shelf components. I'm building an addition to my house, and for the new upstairs bathroom, I'm going to use standard stock American Olean 3"x6" Subway tile ($.22/piece) laid in a herringbone pattern with a dark grout. I'm hoping it ends up looking like this:

image from Greenwood Marble and Tile.

Tile or brick not appealling? Wood floors are the most traditional herringbone flooring.


The herringbone floor pattern dates back to Roman times, which is long enough ago that I think it qualifies as "timeless."

Bookshelves

This is more of a resource list than a post, but the next time you're shopping for bookshelves, you may want to consider these.

The Faulkner Library Cabinet from Crate and Barrel.

Stiles Brothers Library Components by Bauer International.

Sundance Catalog's Draper Cabinet.

For a tougher look, the Emile shelf, also from Sundance.

The Library Cabinet from Z Gallerie.

Arhaus's Athens Collection.

Vincent Leman Bookshelves

In my quest to satisfy my current library fascination, I discovered furniture maker Vincent Leman. He considers "traditional furniture" his medium -- no, he doesn't actually deconstruct real furniture to make these twisted pieces, but rather reinterprets it.

The first two are part of his custom, one of a kind art line, but lucky for us he also has a more accessible line called "Dust" (I'm wondering if he's a fan of Philip Pullman). The dust line doesn't have the rich wood finishes, but the pieces extend their whimsy through color as well as shape.

There's more than bookshelves. See the whole line at Dust Furniture, The Artful Home, and American Artisan.

That "in the library" smell

A bit silly, but if your new house and new books just don't smell right, you can fake it with this home spray called "In the Library" by CB I Hate Perfume. Since I've not actually smelled it, we'll have to depend on the maker's description:

This scent is for those who can’t walk past a second-hand bookstore without coming away with at least one additional volume…It’s not so much the exact recreation of the musty, antique smell of the pages of old book as much as it is the entire book…a hint of worn leather bindings, a whisper of the frayed cloth and the wisp of wood polish from the shelves it sits on and even a bit of sweetness we can’t place.

Custom Library with Balcony

This one's from Business Week -- wouldn't it be wonderful to have a balcony around your library?

Books into Bookshelves

Artist Jim Rosenau uses books as lumber to make, well, bookshelves.


Many are built for pure aesthetic appeal, but some of the best combine books on a theme -- here, a bookshelf for "makers".



Second Editions Bookshelves by Jim Rosenau.

Brown and Gold Library

A wonderfully masculine library with leather chairs with brass nailhead trim, a butler's tray on a stand, a small folding Moroccan side table, and lots of books in dark wood bookcases.

Red Velvet Library

I have a weakness for red velvet, and for libraries. This ad from Western Interiors March 2008 -- for Sotheby's real estate -- twinged my heart strings. Wall to ceiling books, red velvet curtains, oriental carpets, and heavy wood furniture: lovely, timeless, elegant, dramatic and comfortable.

Simple Library from Cottage Living

Last October's Cottage Living had this simple "library nook" that had a lot of steampunk appeal -- leather club chairs, brass reading lamps, and a bookshelf that's been on the Steampunk Home Kaboodle List for a couple months now -- the Railroad Tie Bookshelf. I like this bookshelf -- it's made of recycled railroad ties (railroads -- cutting edge Victorian industrial technology, in case you forget...) . They are more rustic and modern that our traditional steampunk fare, but given their provenance, I think they would fit nicely into a steampunk room. The nautical knots used as bookends are also a nice touch.

Library in a staircase

We love libraries, don't we? Ben just pointed out this library in a stairwell from Apartment Therapy (with the comment "we should do this"). Not stylistically steampunk, but it has the library appeal and the secret spaces appeal, so I deemed it blog-worthy.

Library with a touch of the exotic

I ran across this renovated San Francisco Victorian in the November Better Homes and Gardens. Is there any room more steampunk than a libary? (Ok... maybe a workshop. Maybe.)

There are lots of good steampunk ideas here -- the silk ceiling shade provides a touch of fantasy, the secret powder room behind the bookshelf adds mystery, the corner moldings in the doorway would be easy to install in any open framed space to add details. These bookshelves are likely built-in, but you can get a similar look by attaching molding to plain bookshelves. If you peek into the powder room, you'll get a glimpse of the East -- a Chinese wall hanging and a paper lantern.

I found a similar pendant shade at Lombok (this was surprising hard to find -- if anyone else knows where to find a shade like this, I'd be very interested in hearing about it, since I'm smitten with this one.)

For the door frame, you can pick up shelf brackets from the local building supply store, or order some from someplace like House of Antique Hardware

More libraries.

Lab Glassware, realized

I'm very pleased with how the CB2 borosilicate vases turned out (although they managed to mess up my order, sending me only 2 of the 3 long necked vases, they have since rectified the situation to my satisfaction).



A nice, scientific touch to my library/dining room.

The beaker pitcher and the hourglasses were also ordered (and the small hourglass already broken by the steampunklet, sigh), but I'm still working on where to put them, so no pictures yet.

It may have sucked, but the sets were nice.

Ladies and gentleman, I present to you the library from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (the movie, not the comic book).

More images of the move are on IMDB.

Design notes: tassels on chairs. bar cart. spiral staircase. yum!

90% Steam
5% Punk