This is a dream! For any reader, a favorite decorating prop is books. Books add dimension, provide elevation and/or substance to any display you are doing within your home.
The worn appearance of old books can a sense of history and comfort to your home. Fill your book shelves with old books. You can use a variety or stick to a theme. Display old cookbooks in your kitchen, books of poems in your bathroom, or reference books in your family room. Old books are even a nice addition to your office. If you are, say, a realtor, collect old real estate books. Its interesting to see how professions have evolved over time.
Hard Bound Classics
Any type of hard bound book adds substance to a display. If you remove the dust jacket, most books have a beautiful colored cover. One idea is to follow your room's color scheme by using books with covers of a similar hue. The photo to the left shows books in hues of blue. Did you eye naturally pop to the one green book? Add a few books similar to support your accent color.
Anthropologie stores may have started this trend, and to their credit, its a creative way to display books. Tear off the cover and spine cover of your old paperbacks. At Lola's, we tear off the first few blank pages too. The black text and the white pages make a sort of muted and collective statement. This would be beautiful to add to a shabby chic or french cottage interior. Also, this would be a great way to add various levels of height and dimension on a table for a garden party or wedding.
Covering a book is a nice way to mesh with your interior without harming the book. This style has been popular in high end interiors for awhile. Wrapping the all the books in one color, most often a white or black card stock, allows the book to be displayed without competing with the decor. Its easy to do, just cover the books the same way you did in high school. There are simple to follow instructions on the internet. We love how Apartment Therapy wrapped the books in this photo with Kraft paper and used white labels to mark the important books Some of Lola's favorites wraps include sheet music, newspaper, wrapping paper, and even old dictionary pages. This is a great way to show your creativity.
However you choose to include them, books are a great decorating tool. You may discover that simply by having books around, you may be more apt to pick one up and start reading.
You are right - that library wall is a DREAM. Love it! Wonderful ideas for using books for decorating. I think I'm going to try the kraft paper idea ... they look so clean but yet artsy.
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