Thursday, July 22, 2010

Buried in Books

Craig and I both love books.  I read a lot; he seems to not read them so much as collect them.  I read every night before I turn out the light, a least a few pages (or this summer for a couple of hours).  Whenever he does look at a book, it's often also before bed.

Which means our bedroom looks like this:

his books on the floor by the bed

my books and magazines on the floor by the bed

We need book storage in our bedroom.  I should amend that to say "functional and attractive" book storage.  I do have one little bookshelf in the corner that, while kind of sentimental (my dad made it when he was a teenager), is too small and the shelves are too shallow for my purposes.  It's crammed with books, but it doesn't look attractive.

The problem is, I'm not sure how to do it well.  You don't see bookshelves in master bedrooms too much in the design world.

I saved this picture years ago from, I believe, the Pottery Barn Bedrooms book. Some form of this might work under the window in our room, but it wouldn't stretch this far from side to side.


I found this one on Houzz...pretty, but I don't have built-ins or a fireplace.  Also, I would not cover all my books in white paper because it would be too impractical for me, so it wouldn't look this uniform.

Guest Bedroom traditional bedroom

Is your bedroom being taken over with stacks of books?  Have you figured out an attractive way to handle it?  Do tell.



14 comments:

Melinda said...

I'm the reader in the family, Ken reads a little but not like me.
My books and magazines are stacked up in
our teeny tiny bedroom that we call the sitting room and I have books by my chair in the living room.
You could use baskets to store your books--I like the under the window shelves if you have room for them.

It's a tough call.

Melinda

Three Birds Inspired said...

The floor next to my bed looks like your side of the bed! I do have a bookcase in my bedroom but it is full. When I vacuum my room every weekend, I put all the magazines and books in a huge rectangular basket. For a couple of hours my room looks put together!

Melissa said...

We have a barristers bookshelf but it is too full. My husband has piles. I manage to hide mine in my side table and a bread box that I decorated for other purposes. Nothing that is effective.

the cape on the corner said...

i am using books to raise up the lamps on my night stands, and for uniformity i turned them around so the pages are shown, not the spines. you can check out my post if you'd like, but i don't have nearly as many books in the bedroom as you do. i think under the windows with a cushion on top is a great idea, and it looks like it could work in your space.

here's my link if you want...

http://thecapeonthecorner.blogspot.com/2010/07/theres-more-to-life-than-books-you-know.html

Shug said...

I have so many books, but I also have a nice bookcase in our bedroom. I also keep a lot of my books and journals in the the large drawers I have in the night stand. You might even try a chest at the end of the bed.

Blessings,
Shug

Terry said...

Girlfriend, my room looks ten times worse than yours and there's only me in there. Darn library sales have too many cheap books that I can't pass up. I have resolved to purge the ones I'm unlikely to read again, but resolve and action are two different things.

Leah said...

our guest room has huge bookshelves that we keep most of our books on. however, we have a basket in the bathroom, and a basket on my side of the bed, a side table for my husband for current books. our daugther has a bookshelf right outside of her room in the hallway and another in her playroom.

Amanda @ Serenity Now said...

I think it's a shame that designers don't include more inspiration for book lovers in the bedroom. That's how real people live! I have a stack on my nightstand, and a whole trunk of books in the family room. :s

Patricia said...

I made a floor to ceiling bookshelf in the hallway just outside our bedroom. It only took 7" of floor space but created tons of room to store books, photos and a pitcher collection. Ours is about 5 feet wide but you can make as wide as the space provided. Visitors comment on it all the time, I'm so glad I did it.

Stephanie said...

1. paperbackswap.com It's awesome. I'm not sure I really get *rid* of books... I just replace them.

2. Floating bookshelves. as seen here... http://blog.litcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/image/Wall%20Art%20II.jpg

and here! http://cache.lifehacker.com/assets/resources/2008/07/floating-books.png

Sarah said...

I shove all of ours in the closet.

phyllis said...

wooops! Mine looks like yours :) what to do what to do...

Anonymous said...

Check out http://www.knock-offwood.com/! Ana knocks off furniture from PB, etc., and posts her plans for FREE! I am sure she has something that you could make for a fraction of the cost of retail! Her plans run from beginner to advanced.

Jessica said...

I use a basket on my husband's side of the bed, and a fabric basket/tote with handles on my side of the bed. It even fits big magazines!