bookshelves – findingtimetowrite

Friday Fun: Home Libraries Galore!

Brrr! Not the kind of day to venture out in the cold, so I’m building a book fort in one of these magnificent home libraries.

Home library in the Bahamas, from Architectural Digest.

Now that’s what I call a church conversion! From rightmove.co.uk

Please ignore the books turned the wrong way round! From homedit.com

Awkward space between floors? No problem with this small study/library in San Francisco, from ba-bamail.com

For the architecturally ambitious, this Salvador Dali inspired villa in the Netherlands does a nice line in bookshelving. From Onekindesign.com

Double-height still all the rage in this Monte Carlo library, photo credit Andrew Tort, Architectural Digest.

Fresh as a button, this Hong Kong library, photo credit Simon Upton for Architectural Digest.

Not really a home library, but I couldn’t resist the Batthyaneum Library in Alba Iulia, Romania, from adevarul.ro

Friday Fun: Emerge from Your Library?

Maybe not just yet, not when the libraries look so tempting…

This looks like something out of Beauty and the Beast, from Pinterest.

Library of the Waldsassen Monastery in Bavaria.

Victor Hugo’s library in his house in Guernsey.

A cosy fireplace and a cuddly pet are great accessories, from Archzine.com

And that is why I love high ceilings – designed by Luis Bustumante.

Books really bring colour to even the most neutral and airy of bedrooms, from Pinterest.

And if you can’t leave your books alone overnight, or need to recover after all the holiday eating, here is the sleep-in library from Mildred Slane.

Friday Fun: Cosy Bookishness

As we start to retreat into our cocoons, here are some rooms where all our bookish goodness (and greed) can come to the fore.

Backlighting and ladders – what’s not to look about this? From theurbaninterior.co

Perfect reading nook, although I still prefer the Brasilia chaise. From homedit.com

More of a lived-in look, from vintagenook.com

For those of us who have high ceilings, from Pinterest.

Even if you have long, narrow rooms, you can still create a welcoming library. From kwnyc.com

I could be so organised if only I had those millions of little drawers, from Pinterest.

All that’s missing is the whisky, from the Mayflower Inn.

Friday Fun: Glorious Bookshelves to Cosy Up In

Back to school, back to work, back to reading amidst all the glorious bookshelves. Here are some to inspire you, including my favourite house ever, built specifically around the owners’ book collection. Who wouldn’t commission that, if they had the money?

Casa Ricart in Valencia, Spain, built by Gradoli + Sanz architects.

Another angle of this house that I can’t get enough of…

Books are dusty and will cause you asthma, my mother said when I wanted a bedroom like that. From Fairy Oak Instagram.

If you’re in a tight spot, bookshelves on staircases always work. From Francesa Mantovani.

Sometimes the books are more important than the actual stairs, from Max Wan Architects and Urbanists.

Another bed design, although perhaps more of a day bed. From Pinterest,

A comfy reading chair is always a good idea – but what’s with that space on the shelves? From Vila Spider Hawk.

Finally, a bookshop which occupies a whole little alleyway, Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay.

Do the Hustle: Rearranging My Books

With all of the book-buying binges I’ve been indulging in for the past year (and last week especially), I’ve had to rethink how I arrange my books on the shelves. In other words, I was running out of shelf space, despite the fact that there are bookshelves in my study, both of the boys’ rooms and the living room (although the latter could do with more bookshelves, but stupidly placed radiators prevent it).

So I had a genius moment of inspiration: why don’t I use some of the other furniture to keep books? I have two large bedside tables all to myself and a chest of drawers in my bedroom, plus another chest of drawers for the children’s clothes on the landing. Of course, there had to be a bit of logic to my madness, and this is what I came up with.

The bedside table by the side where I have my reading lamp is dedicated to ‘books to review and other current reads’, books borrowed from the libraries and my three favourite authors: Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen and Tove Jansson. I don’t actually have all of their books here with me – the downside of moving frequently to new countries. But on the day when I will be reunited with all of them, I may have to rethink this strategy, as it’s filling up fast, as you can see! (I still need some space for a cup of coffee.)

On the other bedside table I have the Russians (more of them lurk in Romanian at my parents’ house, but these are the ones I’ve got translated into English), the non-Japanese Asians and Middle Eastern authors (of which I have shamefully few), another favourite writer Shirley Jackson and a few short story or essay collections that I am currently delving into. I also have a small selection of favourite crime fiction authors, so that I can take a peek at them when I get discouraged at the (non-)progress of my novel.

On my chest of drawers I have poetry, because every room needs some poetry in it. The selection was somewhat haphazard, mainly what was overflowing from my poetry bookshelf in the study, but you can’t go wrong with whatever book you open! And I did ensure that Anne Carson, Sharon Olds and Naomi Shihab Nye, three poets who really inspire me, are there.

Out on the landing I have a selection of my Nordics (yes, they are a bit divvied up although lumped together as ‘Nordic’), including my favourite crime fiction series Martin Beck, plus some of my boys’ books that I also want to read and ARCs that I have already reviewed and that I might pass on to friends.

All of this has left no gaps in my proper shelves, but merely means that there is no more double or triple stacking. I can see all the titles at last! And I can also instantly spot the gaps in my world culture. (For example, the Latin Americans are starting to fill up, but Africa and Asia are still woefully underrepresented).

What clever tips and tricks have you got for arranging books or incorporating more shelf space? I’d love to hear from you, especially if you can find a solution for those pesky radiators.

The title is inspired from a song and dance from my parents’ youth: Do the Hustle by disco wonder Van McCoy. (I hasten to add that my parents’ dance was nothing like as complicated as that!)

Friday Fun: Home Libraries at Long Last

I’ve been neglecting the first and abiding love of my life: pictures of home libraries. It has been quite a while since I featured any, mostly because most of the interesting pictures on the internet have already been used up on this blog. So hurry up, folks, furnish some more gorgeous libraries in your houses!

The dark clubhouse style, from Freshome.com

The extremely rustic yet still cosy, from Cottage Life.

The awkwardly shaped one with a staircase, from Elle Decor.

Small but perfectly formed reading nook, from Pete Ginkey.

For the more palatially minded, from Empatika.com

This one comes with a how-to guide for those who own mansions, from Mansion Global.

Friday Fun: Getting Cosy in Home Libraries

November and it’s time to roast chestnuts over the fire, cuddle up with a soft blanket and a pliant animal, and read in perfect surrounding such as these.