Interior Design and Books

When I moved into my house in May of 1995 I spent the first four weeks building the library.  Nothing else mattered decorating-wise, at that point in time.  With over 1000 books I immediately needed to build sufficient bookshelves to house them and get to the unpacking.  The library room was perfect, large, with a fireplace and rough siding for walls.  I picked a literary tone of grey, named Tolstoy, purchased shelving hardware and about 300 feet of 12" by 1" maple, finished with a stain and polyurethane.  Since that initial push, I've added another 100 feet of shelving with overflow living in the room next to the library.  My library is one of my favorite places and where I spend the majority of my time, now.

Being addicted to books is different than being simply addicted to reading.  Many people read and pass along books to other's.  I read, but once a book becomes cherished, I must have a fine copy to add to my library. 

Why "interior design and books"?  The motivation is simple, the February issue of House Beautiful is featuring bookcases in the section Send Us A Picture.  The section is amusing, a collection of interior designers have submitted a picture of their libraries, and the magazine invites readers to submit their photos.  The section is not available on-line yet but searching the House Beautiful site was worth the effort as they have a series of articles concerning home libraries.  A nice overview is Classic Library Design Ideas with 26 pictures of classic, modern, eclectic and traditional design suggestions.

Here are a couple of pictures of my library.  These were taken in October of 2009 and include an annoying date stamp that I can't erase!  I am in the process of cleaning and staging to take new pictures to submit to House Beautiful.  Who knows, maybe I'll make the cut and be featured in a later issue!