All my life no one has ever accused me of being a trendsetter or especially fashionable. I’m one of those who likes what she likes and and couldn’t care less if if it was “in.” But now I find I am so very in style. According to a gaggle of interior decorators and purveyor of decorating taste, House Beautiful, home libraries are in.
A home library has become a place of retreat from the frenzy of the digital world and the world in general. Beautiful shelves, pillows and comfortable chairs, a book and quiet, these designers are talking about it like it is such a great new idea. Imagine, books! In your house! OMG!
Of course they are not crammed on shelves like they are in my house, shelves are not just functional but artistic opportunities. It looks so cool having two floor to ceiling shelves with the books attractively arranged with the spine in. Brilliant! Spine out so you can actually find a book on the shelf is so old fashioned. Something tells me that these libraries are not for people who actually read their books.
I guess I am not as stylish as I thought I was.
Ha! Spine in, indeed.
Have you ever gone to a model home and looked at the books on the shelves? Some of those places put some mighty interesting titles right next to each other, when the books are not merely yards of something like old Reader’s Digest.
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Jeanne, oh yes! Every spring there is a big model home show in the Twin Cities and Bookman and I used to love to go snooping through the big expensive houses. There were often be a few books and they were generally in German or French which is amusing all on its own especially when there would be duplicate titles right next to each other.
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what a nightmare–spines in. It’s difficult enough to
find the book I want when I have an organized system!
cute post.
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booksandbuttons, thanks! I know, could you imagine trying to find a book when you couldn’t see the spine?
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The whole spine in thing is just stupid. How are you supposed to find your books?
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eatierney, exactly! That’s what someone gets for letting interior designers organize their books 🙂
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I run the charity book sale at my local library and there is a local designer who asked me to call her whenever we get books with attractive old-fashioned looking spines, regardless of what they are, as she likes to buy them to use at work.
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shayshortt, oh yes, there are places around here that buy books like that too. One of the used bookstores I frequent offers to sell certain kinds of books by the shelf-foot. I can understand that for retail displays or model homes but to have a personal library created in such a way would be crazy.
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Haha… I bet if they saw some of our libraries they would run in a panic. Or worse, they’d try to cull down the books to just a few here and there and add dust-collecting knickknacks instead.
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Iliana, wouldn’t they though? I hate dust-collecting knickknacks. I don’t think books on a shelf need accessories 🙂
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that article seemed to be more about books as purely decorative items rather than as things to read. A little like pubs in the UK where they have a themed makeover and the designer includes a bookshelf along with the fake beams.
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BookerTalk, yes, they take “books do decorate a room” at face value! 🙂
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I’m starting to like the idea – perhaps we all need a ‘chance’ bookshelf. Sometimes I spend so long looking through books to find the perfect one that I am in the mood for, I almost wish I had spines hidden!
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Ophelia, hmm, that just might be a good idea. Possibly very fun too.
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What new original idea will they come up with next? I mean can you imagine a library – a genuine library at home? Arrrgh!!!! Where is my barf bag? I have to agree with iliana – these designers would run scared if they saw our libraries! I mean the books are all over the place and not all of them were bought because of their bindings!
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cirtnecce, I know, right? Totally wild and crazy! 😉 I don’t think I have ever bought a book because of its binding so designers would definitely be disappointed in my library.
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This post made me laugh. As did this, from the article:
‘Alessandra Branca created a warm, intimate library with just two bookshelves and a chrome easel for a flat-screen television. A large Candida Hofer photograph of Dublin’s Trinity College Library provided a trompe l’oeil effect, as if the library extended into the image.’
I suppose we all have different ideas of what a library entails, I feel that you need more than two bookshelves and a telly… Nevertheless, I agreed with the basic premise that a roomful of books where you can read is peaceful and that ebooks and paper books can co-exist happily. And perhaps if this catches on people will assume that we’re all stylee people, and stop asking ‘Have you read ALL those books?’ when they see our shelves. So, you know, room for optimism here…
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Helen, I agree, two bookshelves and a telly don’t scream library for me. I can’t imagine an avid reader who had a whole room to make a library in would think it important to add a television in there too! But maybe you are right, people might stop asking us if we have read all our books. What a relief that would be!
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Well, those shelves *look* cool, but don’t you wonder if they chose them only by how they would fit together and look to someone checking out the room decor? Anyone putting the spines inwards is not someone concerned with what’s inside the book rather than how it looks. Somehow my messy piles (which are threatening to engulf me….) don’t look quite so nice. But then, I always thought home libraries (no matter how messy) were stylish!
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Danielle, the shelves do look cool, I agree, but yeah, I bet they are chosen for how they look and fit together rather than for the contents. I would vote for your piles over the room decor books as most stylish, comfortable and relaxing every single time!
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Ha! Like you the first thing I thought when I saw the photo is, “These people don’t read.” And whatever one might call that “display,” it can’t be called a home library.
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Grad, it’s hilarious isn’t it? What designers think constitutes a home library as opposed to what readers consider it to be. At least our libraries are real!
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I can sure follow the trend that’s… uh… artistically chaotic. But, spine in? Why design the cover at all. Maybe a hologram of bookshelves would be a trend in the future.
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Arti, the thought of bookshelf holograms gives me cold shivers. It’s worse than a library of fake books. Still, I am sure there would be plenty who would deploy such a thing simply because it looks good.
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So that’s what that jumble on my bookshelves is…an artistic opportunity. I’m so glad that’s been cleared up. I always thought it was just too many books trying to fit into too small a space!
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Alex, yes, didn’t you realize the artistic potential on your own shelves? Like you, I’ve always seen it as a physics problem. Personally I am hoping to accidentally make a discovery in quantum mechanics — little book-sized worm holes that let me keep more books on my shelves than should be possible. I think I am almost there!
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I don’t understand the spine thing! Also — I see pictures of books arranged by color and it makes me crazy. I suspect those books are used for aesthetic purposes only and not actual reading.
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Fresh tomorrow, it’s crazy, isn’t it? Oh yes, organizing by color! It looks pretty but is not practical. I’ve also seen libraries in which all the books have been covered in white paper. Again, looks pretty, but obviously not a library intended for reading.
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How do you get any insight into the person if you can’t see the spine? Not only do you have to wonder if they really read, but why won’t they share if they do?
I love a reading room that feels cozy and where not all the books are on the shelves.
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Jenclair, LOL, that’s right, no bookshelf snooping if you can’t see the spines! Makes you wonder what the person is hiding. There is something to be said for book piles, I agree!
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Aren’t interior designers extraordinary? They seem to forget that people LIVE in houses rather than just look at them. Spines in, indeed! They’ll be choosing books by the colour of the covers next!
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Litlove, heh, they are indeed. I think you are right that they forget people actually live in houses. Oh, I’ve seen some designed rooms where the books were chosen by color and/or existing books were wrapped in white paper. It looks lovely but really is useless if you actually want to read anything.
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