Not sure what you mean. Like the first pic.

Our bookshelves are just as jam-packed unfortunately. Those are not empty by any means.

The last pic features modern day (what used to be called) curio cabinets. They weren't purchased for books because the homeowners probably don't have any. The others....varying degrees, except the first. Love the color scheme n the first picture, and all the books.

Do not like the silver leaf ceiling in the second picture, and generally don't care for that "oh, we just threw a little of every expensive thing we could find into the room" style.

NSmom, I don't see any of them as being particularity bare. Is your point they're *not*supposed to be? Although they are bookshelves, they can be used for collections as well as books.

Like all things in decorating, it's personal.

OK, I tried to post one, in my eyes, "proper" bookshelf, that is full of books, followed by an "empty" bookshelf or rather underutilized with books a decorative items. Then followed by a second set: Bookshelves with books, empty book shelf. Now KSWL says that my last example isn't even bookshelves but curio shelf.

I agree that people can do whatever they want with bookshelves. Just my personal preference is to use them for books, lots of them.

My pet peeve is books as decorative items and rows of bookshelves without book. I understand if you happen to move into a house and don't own books (although that's another story). However, people who install (book)shelves and then just have to find items to put into their empty shelves is kinda weird.

I just believe in function over form..... But it doesn't keep me up at night :)

We have a bookcase that is more collections than books. We purchased it when we actually bought books, but you don't need to nowadays. As a matter of fact, I have a gift card that's about four years old and have no idea what to buy with it. I read on my Nexus and find better recipes, gardening and travel info, etc. online.

Perhaps if you just thought of them as "shelves" and not "bookshelves" you'd be happier? ;-)

I prefer a mixture of books and objects.

Funny, because I thought that first picture was irkingly jam-packed with books! Curios and a spot for my Kindle are all I need.

Interesting. I like the first one with all the books. All the others seem too cluttered. Too much going on.

I tend to think of book cases as shelves but either want all books or just a few decor items. Not a jumble.

I like books, I like objects, but I don't like is shelves full of items (books or otherwise) that seem to have been purchased to fill space. I like to see items that seem personal and carefully selected/collected.

We moved into a house with lots of built-in bookshelves but don't have the books to fill all of them. I own a large number of books, but rarely add new ones b/c I now read on line or borrow from the library. It's an interesting time we're in where the printed book is going to become less and less common.

Before the internet I was an avid reader, always at the library and bookstores. I don't have any bookcases and don't want them. In earthquake country they're dangerous anyway.

There was a story on CBS Sunday Morning this morning about someone that makes custom covers for books, and they form a picture like a mural, or co-ordinate colors with the room, or function as the color in the room. Some people had the books they really love done up like that, others had any old book they didn't care about done up like that. Kind of an interesting idea. I would like it for books I loved, but not for a bunch of books I would never look in.

Here is a link that might be useful: pictorial covers

The shelves in the last picture have strange spacing and even on my BIG monitor I don't see any holes for adjusting their height. That's why the pieces look more like display units than bookshelves per se. But as always, it's just one opinion. Generally speaking I think the best decoration for bookshelves is books.

I have a friend who did exactly what ncsoccer describes---they had "bookshelves" built into their living room and then had no books to put on them........ I think she ended up using them for a collection of Snowbabies :-(

It is a matter of visual neatness, I suppose. I like the first one because everything is in order and tidy. The one in the children's room looks okay as bookshelves and storage area.

My "yikes" is the navy color--I was just planning to re-do my living room in a dark blue--and I'm hitting a trend! mama mia!

I think the last pic is hemnes bookshelves from ikea in grey brown. Hemnes are aweeeeesssssome for the price (and the holes are fairly hidden).

Right on target for me:) I have the first picture saved and have been planning lots of books for the new built-ins in the family room..... but then again I do appreciate the feedback regarding mixing books with decorative items. The only leather bound (truly decorating worthy) books I have are a wonderful set my father gave my mother some 40 years ago of Margery Allingham's Campion series.

Currently, my hardcovers (only ones I like, I promise!) are overflowing current storage. I was just measuring the other day, planning for the new built-ins, thinking: hmm. 26 inches here x 3 shelves and 28 inches there x 3 shelves = not that much additional storage.....

Put me in the first room and the first thing I would do would be to walk up to the bookcase and start browsing :)

The last pic features modern day (what used to be called) curio cabinets. They weren't purchased for books because the homeowners probably don't have any.

You were joking, right? That's quite the assumption to make. We used to have two shelving units just like the one in the last picture, and in another room were wall to wall books. Now we have built-in's and books in storage.

BTW, those shelving units were never meant to be curio cabinets (they still make cc's), they were made to be used for electronics. Tv's, DVR's, etc.

I'm getting ready to take about a third of my books out of the built-in's and replace them with decorative items. :)

I like the first 3 pictures. We have built in floor to ceiling bookcases in our library. We are both book lovers but just don't have enough books to fill them all up. I'm am sure over a lifetime, we will accumulate them. I don't buy books just for the sake of filling shelves, so it will take time.

My library bookshelves are jam packed and this is after weeding out novels etc that I would never read again. It is also houses a mixture of family pictures, an antique clock that I have had forever, my beloved DGF's fishing creel and many more family relics. It will never make a home decorating magazine because it is more cluttered and messy than I would like but we are constantly pulling books out and they don't always make it back to their original spot. What you don't see in the picture is a full bookshelf unit on both ends.

I haven't added to the jumble in years as all my reading is done on either my iPads or Kindle and I sure as heck don't need anymore clutter. I also have books in every room in my house with the exception of the bathrooms. My home office also has a tall bookcase filled with books.

Robo~ You're right about the Hemnes..They look great in that photo.

I think that once the "bookcase" has a depth of 12" or more it becomes a display shelf.
Display away....

My bookshelves look like Picture #1 out of sheer necessity; more books than shelf space in this house. I actually love the mixing of books with curios, photos and collections; it looks warmer and more personal to me than having books on a shelf and curios on the mantle or a side table. (The room in Picture #2 is awesome, BTW).

I work in a profession that requires I have reference books on hand. Except for these, and some books I maintain for sentimental reasons, I don't keep books just to fill my shelves. For pleasure, I read a book once, and knowing I'll likely never read it a second time, I pass it on to a friend or donate. Most likely, it's a library book that I return. I love going to the library, and our local library is my peaceful haven.

Franky, I've never understood why people have mass collections of books, just to "have books" on a bookshelf, unless, of course, you actually read them.

If one has a bookshelf that doesn't have books on it, it's just repurposing it for other items. What's so offensive about that? Like the nightstand thread where furniture that was originally built for one purpose is now being used as nightstands. Why is the idea of a bookshelf that contains beloved collectibles or family portraits such blasphemy?

Booklovers on this thread will love something I saw yesterday in Berkeley (I wish I had taken a picture). On a street corner, there was a large cart filled to the brim with books, and on it a sign "Make a donation. Take home some books".

I am another book lover, and yes, I also love to decorate with them, and yep, bought books solely to fill the upper shelves needing a tall ladder to reach. I chose them for their look. I have leather bound books I have read, will read, or , ahem, think about reading.( Plato). :>/
My pet peeve is large bookcases filled with knick knacks. And number 2 is a jumbled mess, imo.

As soon as the new Kindle Paper White comes out, I will cave in to cyber books. However, if it's a book I love, I will buy it for my " library" . Can't imagine not taking a loved book down from the shelf, a book of poems, etc.
I like to include some " things" too, but keep filling it with mostly books.

My parents built a house in 1977 with lots of built-in bookcases. Mom just sold the house, and the new owner has thousands of books. He was definitely excited about the bookcases!

I'm a dinosaur, so even though I read on a Kindle in bed, I still like to hold a book in my hand. Actually find it easier to find pages. Also since I have the Kindle, I realize that I really need to look at a cover page, table of content, etc.

My favorite is picture 1. Love it, including the dark navy.
Picture 2, while looking very nice "bothers" me because to me it looks the books are used for decoration purposes, like stacking them with a ceramic figurine on top, etc. Too styled, but again, I love the color.

my bookshelves would look more like #1. right now I have more bks than shelves. More shelves will go in after I get some flooring down.

I have 2 curio cabs but don't mind putting a treasure or 2 on a bkshelf if I need to.

I don't read as much as I did in my younger days but have bks. Am weeding out tho, novels to GW. I won't read or reread them. The kid books will be shipped to my gkids. A few treasures (bks) will be sent to my kids. like son #3's bible from age 7. I think he should have that.

Sjockeyfan, I love that!!

Peony, from my point of view there is a difference between using books purely as decor and filling in shelves of books with a well-placed decorative accessory. Artfully stacking books sideways or using them as stands for figurines, etc.....I don't know, it just seems wrong to me. But I am a bookly curmudgeon and admit it freely.

Our library shelves are filled with an astonishing array of books ranging from my father's old economics books to paperback science fiction novels and everything in between. I don't buy expensive leather bound books to look good --- although those look beautiful, martinca!--- because I don't really care how they look. The paperbacks are just as precious to me as a gorgeous coffee table size book of photographs of the Second World War, because it is the content that makes them valuable, not the cover. Not a few visitors have been taken aback when they realize that well loved raggedy paperbacks, not leather bound volumes of Shakespeare or history, have pride of place on the lowest shelf. ;-)

Hey, kswl, l'll bet I can out shabby your books! The leathers are gifts from my kids. Here's how most of the shelves look , but with even more paperbacks. :) m.

You all will love this blogger's recent post about her new bookshelves.

Here is a link that might be useful: bookshelves

Lol, martinca..... but do you have any that have been dropped in the bathtub and then dried out ?

I'm glad to see that other people value paperbacks!

but do you have any that have been dropped in the bathtub and then dried out ?

I did (well, the swimming pool), but it was called "The Truck Book", and it really wasn't mine, it belonged to my then 2-year old son (who's going on 30, and about to become a father himself). He loved that book so much, we bought 3. And yes, he still loves 'actual books'.

I wish I had bookshelves. My books are all in plastic boxes--about 30 of them. I meant to sell them, or do something with them, and still need to. I love to see books on shelves.

MY pet peeve is bookshelves filled with books which are just for show and which have obviously never been read and never will be.

Or even better, books were the pages are glued together.
I committed a huge faux pas when I commented on someone's books in a foreign language, only to learn that nobody, speaks or reads that language in the household, and there was no particular reason to have these books other than for their impressive spines.

Oh, and one more reason to still hold on to paperbacks. Unlike a Kindle, you can read them in the bath tub.

Lol, sjhockeyfan and nosoccermom!

I like to take books in the bath and in the swim spa and I have a waterproof cover for my kindle....around here, pragmatism is one of the highest virtues âºï¸Â

I'm scared of dropping my Kindle. How waterproof is that cover? Probably not completely, right?

"swim spa" (oh, envy!)

It's really waterproof, nosoccer. I have dropped it more than once. DH bought it for me when he noticed I was reading in water with the kindle. It has two heavy duty Ziploc type seals, one inner and one outer. I guess if you held it under water for any length of time it would eventually get wet, but if sealed properly the casual fall won't harm the kindle or ipad at all.

Violet, it is the kind of long 15' spa that has jets at one end for swimming in place. DH wanted a regular pool, which I vetoed because we did not have the right space for one big enough for laps. This was a good compromise; I swim and he enjoys the other end while watching movies outside!

Or even better, books were the pages are glued together. - nosoccermom

Oh yeah! Years ago Spouse and I stayed at the only hotel in a small market town in East Anglia in England. The ground floor of the hotel had a combination dining room-parlor-pub-lounge area, part of which had built-in bookcases filled with old leather bound books, the kind with fancy gilt on the spines. Being a huge reader and book lover, I was sipping my pint while scanning the shelves, and saw a book I wanted to examine further. When I removed it from the shelf, it was more like 2/3 of a book. The shelves were extremely shallow, so the hotel proprietors had cut down the books to fit the shelves! And by "cut down" I mean sawed off!

LOL. New meaning for short story :)