A novel way to decorate your home
Even if you're not a swot or a book-worm, chances are you have at least a few books lying around your home, or maybe you feel they are simply cluttering up space.
If so, you're missing an inexpensive interior trick. Well-displayed books can transform a room, whether they're leather-bound first editions or a motley crew of beach-battered holiday reads.
Writer Leslie Geddes-Brown's home boasts a mini-library in the living room, as well as shelves groaning with books in the kitchen and bathroom and lining the walls of the downstairs cloakroom.
"Although writers like to believe that books have a higher, sterner purpose, in fact they do also furnish a room," Leslie says. She reveals her favourite examples of this from around the world in her new illustrated book, Books Do Furnish A Room.
Former deputy editor of World of Interiors magazine, Leslie recognises that not everyone is a serious reader or wants a library, but she suggests books in modest batches should be displayed in decorative bookcases.
"Books, in my view, should be in every corner of the house, with the possible exception of the larder," she says. "To me, a room without books is missing an essential feature, as important as lights, chairs or carpets. And they tell you so much about a person. When I visit friends' houses, it's always heartening to see a few bodice-rippers and thrillers in among the Booker prize-winners."
The success of Ikea's simple BILLY bookcase, which celebrates its 30th birthday this year, demonstrates that books are an essential accessory in modern homes. Since BILLY'S creation, a total of 41 million have been sold. Laid out end to end they would stretch almost twice around the world at the equator.
BILLY's designer Gillis Lundgren says: "I'm particularly happy that BILLY has made it possible for so many people to build their own little library. In the old days, books were quite uncommon in most homes. These days everyone has books, which is as it should be."
Follow Leslie Geddes-Brown's tips to bring out a home's beauty with books:
Look around your home and see if you can spy corners or crannies that can be enhanced by books.
Make shelves distinctive by asking a carpenter to tailor their layout to suit your book collection. For instance, compact paperbacks need less height between each shelf, and then you could break up the uniformity by making a feature with a deeper shelf for large height books.
"If a living room is very large, an oversized set of bookshelves will reduce the space and add warmth to the whole," says Leslie.
An open space under the stairs might be an ideal space for bookshelves, or perhaps an empty fireplace filled with bright red books as an eye-catching substitute for flickering flames. But do make sure the chimney is sealed properly, and there is an air vent to avoid damp.
Use a bookcase as a room divider, far preferable to a dividing wall with a dark space. Choose open shelves to allow light through. Dwell's excellent, competitively priced storage units on lockable wheels make great room dividers.
Smaller homes and demands on space mean most of us don't want books spilling everywhere, but it's a shame to hide them in boxes when there are so many brilliant bookshelves around. For ber-cool, contemporary style, try a Dedale Frame Bookshelf, 1,738, from Roche Bobois. The wall unit is made from a material which looks like thick glass, available in a lacquer or satin finish, and in a choice of colours – white, black, orange or bold red.
For elegant informality, John Lewis's Pisa ladder-style walnut unit, 190, is also a winner. There is a fashionable Scandinavian look to OKA's dresser-style desk, the Borgholm, 850, and its decorative back board incorporates three roomy shelves. A Petworth Cabinet, 1,095, in dark wood with four doors with open chicken wire panels could conjure a French chateau atmosphere, and its handsome Library shelves, in various sizes, start from 595.
Ikea's BILLY bookcases start from 9.99. The range now includes a new BILLY BJASTA, 39, available with a funky graffiti-style interior.
Vintage books can be turned into art by displaying them so the spines are against the wall and the gilt-edged pages face outwards to create a glimmering bookshelf.
"Any old books can be given a facelift so they star on a shelf," says Leslie. "Disguise them with a homemade plain paper cover, or use old wallpaper, or exotic newspapers such as Chinese or Russian ones for intriguing book jackets."
Make the bookshelf as much of a feature as the books it holds. An imaginative shelf resembling a section of garden ivy creeping up the wall is 92.98 by Susan Bradley at Hidden Art Shop.Trendy kitsch bookends featuring the television character Morph are 19.99, or enjoy a twist on the theme with a bookshelf clock, 19.99. It's made up of three "books" in yellow, red and blue, with clock hands positioned on the spine of the middle book. Both are from The Contemporary Home.
Daydreamers might covet a bookshelf unit in the shape of a cloud: check out the Cirus Small Cloud shelf, 18.67, with two glass shelves, available from Ibride at Nest.
The Contemporary Home: 0845 130 8229, www.tch.net
Dwell: 0845 675 9090, www.dwell.co.uk
Golden Books Group: 01271 883 204, www.goldenbooksgroup.co.uk
Hidden Art: www.hiddenartshop.com
Ikea: www.ikea.com
John Lewis: 08456 049 049, www.johnlewis.com
Nest: 0114 243 3000, www.nest.co.uk
OKA: 0844 815 7380, www.okadirect.com
Roche Bobois: 020 7431 1411, www.roche-bobois.com
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