Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Accessorizing with Books

I'm obsessed with big, chunky design/decorating/art books and have stacks of them around my apartment. Most people tend to shove all of their books in a bookcase or onto shelving, but there are many other creative ways to organize and arrange them. If you're looking for a quick update, gather up the books around your house and try something new! I've rounded up some great examples to get your creative juices flowing. And if you have ideas or ways you enjoy arranging books, let us know :)

Stack them high enough to double as an accent table 


Stack them at different heights on a chest and accessorize with found objects

Add color and interest to a room by filling in the open space below a table or nightstand with books

Pile them on a cool chair


If you have a kitchen or dining table you don't use very often, fill the table with beautiful books and accessories

If you do place your books in a bookcase, make things more interesting by arranging them by color. You can always remove the book jackets (especially from hardback novels), which might give you more solid colors to work with. 

Stacked books double as a tiny accent table in a super small space
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IMAGE CREDITS: LONNY MAG; HOUSE & HOME

16 comments:

  1. Hi > it has been a wile . i'm back . Zelda

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  2. Great post! I'm obsessed with pretty books- spend wayyy too much money on them but I can't help myself- for me a space doesn't ever feel complete without flowers and books.

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  3. I love using books to add height to things. I have one of my lamps on my side table/trunk on a stack of books. But I turned all the books in my shelf page side out because I couldnt stand the lack of uniformity! (crazy? yes, probably)

    http://temporary-nest.blogspot.com/2010/08/page-presentation.html

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  4. I'm with you - books at great dimension and personality to a space. So much inspiraiton here!

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  5. I'm constantly moving my books around. I think I move them more than I actually read them!!

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  6. Cute idea. I love the use of books for decoration, i saw a cool idea (maybe on here?!?) that was a shelf bracket with a book on top to make a shelf! Love it!

    natasha
    http://hautetherapy.com

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  7. I LOVE that last pic! Cuuuute! I need to start collecting books to do this:-)

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  8. I too love books and love seeing books in a home. My favorite way to use books would be on tables (as in image with the white table and fab ottomans!), on ottoman and on trays. I like them to be accessible...you can grab one and sit to peruse!

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  9. This reminds me of a great idea I found when the pictures of model Coco Rochas' apartment were first posted on Vogue: covering your books with pretty, old newspapers! I thought it looked so wonderful and interesting; another great way to creating uniformity, and it allows you to play with colour in all other aspects as the books are all black and white!

    Here's what it looks like in Coco's apartment!
    http://www.vogue.com/culture/article/inside-coco-rochas-apartment/#/gallery/apt-with-lsd-coco-rocha/10

    The newspaper protects the books from wear & tear at the same time!

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  10. Excellent post! Books are my favorite accessory and you found some great examples of how to successfully pull it off!

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  11. Thank you for sharing these great ideas for grouping books to look elegant. I have huge shelves of books which need some help, so this is just the inspiration I needed. Awesome!

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  12. I love books and have tons of them in the house...

    Thanks for sharing these books design ideas:)

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  13. Wonderful post! I have lots of books...will put this great idea to use.

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  14. I'm totally going to try this! Love it!

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  15. Books are a designer's best friend. Great pictures and ideas!

    Betsy

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  16. So clever. My client did this with older art books that are thick and worn, all in the same color range. Looks very chic.


    http://flairgenius.blogspot.com/

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Thank you for your comments! I appreciate you stopping by :)