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Here is a link that might be useful: www.lovethatinterior.com

Our study does. I'll have to dust them before I can take any pics, though (insert an embarrassed emoticon face here). But, I know what you mean. To me, books lined up like a public library are so boring. I like to add small framed pictures or paintings, statues or any small pieces of interest in between them. I also put in small stacks of two or three books with something sitting on top of them for some added interest. Anything to break up that looooong row of books!

here's one of mine--not finished yet, but almost.

{{!gwi}}

If your client uses these books a lot, she may have them arranged in a specific order--by topic, alphabetically by title or author. In that case, a more artistic display of the books would be counter to her desire to access the books. I don't like books stacked on their sides because it is harder to get at the book and harder to put the book back. If the client's main goal is function and your main goal is form, there might be a conflict.

That doesn't mean that the bookshelves can't be pleasing to the eye.

Larger books, such as many art books, should be flat on the shelf so as to protect the binding. So you might be able to pull out large format books and stack them, thus both protecting them and breaking up the rows of books.

What you might be able to do is to break up the rows of books by placing some different objects within the rows of books. Start on the left of the shelf with the books and after about 50 books, place a vase or something on the shelf. Then on the right of the vase, start the books again. After so many books, put an interesting bookend in place. The vases or whatever would have to be heavy enough to hold the books in place. You could use these items at the end of every subject, say, at the end of the row of history books, there's a brass horse. Then the gardening books start. At the end of the run of those, put a plant on the shelf. Break up the run of books in different places on each shelf. Or even just look for interesting bookends and start and stop the rows of books in different places with them.

i have some odd things, like pamphlets and maps, that I store in my bookcases. I have some nice wood magazine holders that I use for these. Something like that for smaller or more fragile items would also break things up.

Since most of my bookcases are much deeper than the books, I put things on the shelf in front of the books. A few framed family photos, some small knickknacks--nothing that will impede access to the books. That is, I do this on those bookcases where the books aren't double shelved because I long ago ran out of bookcase space.

There is a book titled, "Decorating with Books." It is full of pictures of the homes and offices of people who have lots and lots of books. It might provide some ideas.

Did she say why she wants them upright? Books that are vertical are much easier to remove and replace on a shelf. It's harder to get a book out from the under a stack of other books.

I have many hundreds of books and they're all placed vertically on shelves. They look great, too! I actually don't like the look of piles of books because it just makes me think of having to dig out the one on the bottom to look at it.

If your client doesn't actually take the books down and look at them, then never mind!

I guess I should have said how they were arranged-- they're by subject matter, because we use them for reference frequently.

The books aren't arranged in terms of use or topic. It just never occurred to her to arrange them any other way! Thanks everyone.

I want some shelves! Any ideas for how to get that built-in look without built-ins?

http://isuwannee.blogspot.com/ does a feature called "bookcase of the day" - if you scroll through her posts, you'll see lots of inspiration pics

I have to agree with CamLan..."uses these books...arranged in a specific order...more artistic display of the books would be counter to her desire to access the books.

I'd give anything to have a couple wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling areas to display our well-used and beloved books. And they'd have to be packed in like soldiers, too! We have so many books on gardening, cooking, history/American, history/British, history/Architecture, hunting, dog training, quilts and quilting, birding, crafts, chickens, homesteading, pioneers, firearms, medieval history, children's literature, home decorating...and the lists go on and on. To have room to have them all out would make life so much easier.

I love books. I've seen photos of lovely bookcases showcasing priceless works-of-art and a few small stacks of books; they make me want to remove the "stuff" and put in books. Of course, if they are art/display shelves and not actually book shelves, I guess that works, too.

I love books packed in like soldiers, floor to ceiling. It's a warm, well-read library feel. The idea of buying books for their display qualities is one of my biggest decorating pet peeves.

Well, I just saw this on a site while dreaming about my favorite kitchen...

{{!gwi}}

Here's my bookcase:

I have a huge reference library I use everyday. I need to know where I can lay my hand on a single book without fussing. I arrange by subject, tall to short, and put the books well to the front of the shelf, but no bookends. I do position the extremely tall books horizontally, but getting them out is a pain.

Trying to make a utilitarian library look all decorated is pretentious and silly to me. If the book cases or book shelves are nice (not Ikea Billy) then the visual impact will take care of itself. Too few books, arranged "artistically" in a big bookcase are a far bigger sin than lots of books, lined up nicely.

I use custom-made cubbies, not unlike Ikea's Expedit, but I think you can use crown molding to gussy up store-bought readymades to a good end.

lovethatinterior is a spammer. I just realized it.

I didn't mean for my request for pics to become a debate about the display of books. First of all, the book shelves themselves are not "nice" -- not even as nice as Ikea Billy. They are the type of shelves you buy at the hardware store and hang on those metal brackets attached to vertical metal strips. Fortunately they've been dressed up a bit by being painted a shade darker than the wall color. But, they're still not too pretty. So yes, I'd like to see the books arranged a bit more nicely to distract from the less-than-pretty shelves. The books are also held up with metal bookends from the office supply store, so laying a few books on their sides to act as bookends might be nice. I'm not intending to use books "for their display qualities" either. These books are used, and I don't intend to make using them difficult. I myself have bookcases, both nice ones and more basic ones, filled with books that we use all the time, and I can access them easily even if some of them are stacked sideways or if one happens to have a little ceramic pot in front of it. I'm also not working against the client here or suggesting something she's not interested in. I promised her some pictures, then had a hard time finding any good ones, so I asked the nice people here for some pictures. Thanks for the pictures; they've been very helpful. Thanks, metromom, too, for the blog link. I love it!

If the book cases are industrial, I don't think you'll get a lot of mileage out of the arrangement of the books.

At the risk of embarrassing myself, these are mine in our family room/kitchen. Cookbooks on the left, all others elsewhere. Sorry the pic is big.
{{!gwi}}

sueb20~Those are the exact same kind of shelves that are in my daughter's old room, soon to be MY home office, so I'm excited now for the possibilities.

metromom~great blog, thanks!

BTW my daughter used those shelves for lots more than books, so I know they're very sturdy. Books add so much personality to a room.

ideefixe~I meant to say thanks to you too! For the tip on Ikea and using crown molding on less expensive, plain jane bookcases to make them look like built-ins. I intend to try that someday.

prairie, one thing that was done to these shelves that helped a lot -- the shelves themselves are painted a shade darker than the wall color (a sage green) so they blend into the room a little more than they used to.

Here's a good pic of these types of shelves. Can't remember where/how I found it, could have been from the blog metromom gave us.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Can you maybe put an edge detail on them?

I think you'll find some pics by googling.

In a library, the bookcase can be wall-to-wall books. But in a LR or FR, etc., the rule Shari said as I recall was 1/3 blank space, 1/3 nicknacks, and 1/3 books. She certainly is the queen of accessorizing.

Blank space? Wow, what a concept. I have so much stuff crammed into my own bookshelves, I can't imagine sacrificing 1/3 to blank space! ;)

I do have plenty of pics now, thanks everyone. Now I have a whole "bookcase file" for inspiration! I find that a lot of people have difficulty in this area.

Paying attention to negative space is important aesthetically and a fundamental observation in art and things beautiful. So, with shelving that is both functional and decorative, paying attention to the 'white' space, as if it were another object, helps to create an overall pleasing design -- the way it backdrops a vignette and gives it breathing room and focus, the silhouettes and shapes it makes, and the overall pattern and balance of the negative space or decorative area as a whole. It may just be intuitive as you work or you can think about it when trying to figure things out.

HTH : )

Beautifully said, Squirrel. There's an example of what a good artist or decorator should learn in school... since we had that thread the other day about school.

I have too many books to be able to do what you are advising your client but I totally agree with you that it does make a bookshelf look nicer. My bookcases are in the back room where we have our home office, hardly anyone who visits sees that room so I don't worry about the shelves. My living room is a different matter, where all rooms converge I have a small, narrow secretary. It's impossible to walk into my house without seeing this piece of furniture so I do place more importance on how the shelves look.

You asked about books and I'm showing you shelves of DVDs but that shouldn't matter, same idea.

I used to have all the shelves packed with DVDs but it looked boring and didn't do this little secretary justice. So I selected just the boxed sets and those that were part of collections and the rest went into albums. For fun I put my tea cups on the same shelf with my Jane Austen movies so there is a relation between them. I see now that there is merit to thinning out a *book* collection and putting some away in order to replace them with other loved items you have. I stop and look at the shelves now, never did that before. Bookshelves are more interesting to look at when there are other things on it than just books. And with more breathing room you see the individual books, there isn't that same feeling of packed in clutter. Only when there are too few books (and too few accessories) do I question why the person bothered to buy or build the bookshelf to begin with.

p.s...since you're a designer, if you see anything wrong in the way I've arranged things by all means let me know and I'll move them around!

{{!gwi}}

In a recent issue of some shelter magazine--might have been Metropolitan Home--a designer used colorful boxes as book ends--all the same at the end of each floating shelf. The shelves were darkest grey and the boxes sort of orange. They gave a finished look to the ends of the book cases, but weren't knick-knacky.

I was trying to be funny about the blank space issue... yes, I do understand the value of attention to negative space. I have never heard the "1/3" rule before although that is interesting. I just have too many books to follow that particular rule. My shelves are probably more like 3/4 books, 1/8 "knick knacks", and 1/8 empty space!