Don’t let an awkwardly-shaped space or too many windows stop your book shelving impulses. Here are some examples of how you can decorate your house with books.


Don’t let an awkwardly-shaped space or too many windows stop your book shelving impulses. Here are some examples of how you can decorate your house with books.
I’m not yet ready to come out of my burrow yet, despite the snowdrops and daffodils that are starting to come out. In the cosy places below, I have no doubts that I would make a huge dent in all of my current projects.
I spent most of this week searching for some documents and folders, and kept telling myself how much more organised I would be, how I would have everything easily to hand… if I had something resembling these home libraries.
I am very fortunate this week to have the use of a friend’s flat in one of my favourite locations in the world (the mountains above Lac Leman in Switzerland) and even two furry friends, a dog and a cat, to help me with my writing/editing/translating prowess. So this time I am not envious at all of the dreamy study spaces below.
Whenever I worry that I have too many books, I remind myself that there are still lots of ‘dead’ spaces that are wasted in a house, when they could contain perfectly adequate shelves and books. Here are some eloquent examples.
I’ve just finished reading Marlen Haushofer’s novella The Loft, but I’ve long had a love for attic conversions. In fact, back in the days when I thought this might be my forever house, I was planning to convert the loft into a very big study for myself (so that my sons can call me ‘the madwoman in the attic, perhaps?), drawing inspiration from one of the below.
I have a superb window seat here under the eaves on my lovely Yorkshire writing retreat. So I am not comparing and complaining this week at least. But here are some for those of you who are not fortunate enough to have such a treasure close to hand. We saw an uncomfortable one last week, but I think these ones are OK for reading.
The most attractive pictures of interiors are those with lots of empty shelving, because I could just imagine all of the books I could use to fill up that space.
Let’s pay a visit to the gorgeous, airy Haussmannian apartments in the well-heeled areas of Paris now that their occupants are on holiday. I’ve been inspired by the elegant apartments shown in the film The Woman from the Fifth (Arrondissement), I hasten to add, not the dodgy hotel in the peripherie.
A good friend Ewa Sherman showed me a library ladder on Twitter (knowing how partial I am to such distractions) and that inspired me to find some of the most congenial library ladders of all time. From the classical to the more modern…