Creation Of A Homemade Home Library?

Great vid, I’m on the same mind of build what you can afford and forget anywho who wants to be an elitist. On a completely unrelated note and only a suggestion never going to tell people what they should do, but some background music with your voiceover might help people stick around 😛 It’s somewhat off putting (not that it bothers me much) to have complete silence between sentences, so some copyright free stuff low in the background could help. Again only a suggestion. Still perusal the whole vid and liking 😛 Keep up the good work.

Thanks. I’ve been meaning to make a couple projects for the house and have been looking for alternatives to plywood as it is too expensive now. Was considering mdf but framing lumber seems like a better option. I’m glad I came across your article, I really like your design. I’ve been looking for a tutorial for a simple closet system possibly using this lumber as well. Any ideas?

It definitely feels much cozier and looks beautiful and homey! My only critique is that the books she has now already fill up all the shelves and a bookworm like that is always getting more! Is there any way for her to add in more shelves as she collects more? Or will the track system not support more? The tiebacks are super cute too!

I have a one bedroom apartment with about two thousand books. I use bookshelves that I made as dividers, “cat stairs” to a window book boxes with my several feet of history/archaeology/ancient civilizations books; a shelf in the bedroom to block the heat vents with poetry, philosophy, Biblical, language, how-to books; a utility shelf on the back of the laundry room door for miscellaneous pocketbooks; a coat rack with shelf unit in the bathroom where I hang my robe and PJ’s; built in shelves in the closet by the computer desk with a mixture of children’s (for when the grandkids come over,) Alaska magazines, and my Britannica; a tall unit between the living and kitchen for my cookbooks; a Thomas Jefferson secretary desk with my rare and old books behind the glass doors; one small faux-mission style unit that I made with some scrap wood for some of my Folio books and some multi-book series science fiction; The unit that separates the entry from living area is historical fiction, art books, math and science and some miscellaneous. The unit that separates the kitchen from living is lots of reference and dictionaries, health, gardening, science, and miscellaneous. I then will sort by author within the subject as I have some I buy a lot of their books. I really do know pretty much where everything is except when the shelf is full and I find another book I “need” and have to try to rearrange to get it in with the others. It’s a sickness, I know; but I am not looking for a cure.

I love all your makeovers and I watched them from the mentioned redo of the Billy bookcase 🙂 I also got inspired a ton. It’s repeating pattern for me that the chairs used for home office do not seem ergonomic enough. I am software dev and so is my husband and we NEED ergonomic chairs (life after 30 is no joke haha). We also share a tiny space and I think the chairs really make a statement 🙁 They’re IKEA, so they don’t look too bad, but still… I am really looking forward to a article with some tips how to either style a home office around ergonomic work area or style the area itself. I would really appreciate that! Again, I got super inspired by so many ideas and DIY’s in this website, especially on the budget. Sending love from Copenhagen, Denmark! 🙂

Did anyone else see the pile of books on the Desk at the end and realise: they didn’t put back all the books… For the ‘Reveal’ I guess they didn’t want it to look as cluttered as it might (?) with books on the floor. Plus: She said: a lot of good articles had been written in that chair… I am not an interior designer… but didn’t that sound like the chair was specifically something Danielle might have a… ‘creative-dependency’ going on with? I just had the thought that the old chair might be hanging around in the hallway outside… ready to be re-replaced… Anyway: I’m SO GLAD she didn’t paint… redoing the workspace of an artist who needs to have not too many distractions can be VERY hit/miss… Saying that: Wow! Task: Remake my office/Library into a cozy library! All marks checked off! Bravo Alexandra! And: Can I just say, it looks like Danielle divided her Book-Categories, by piling books on top of each other? No idea if that was what was going on… but: brilliant idea… in other words: use more books as book-ends! 🙂

So many books, I love it ❤️ I organize my books by language, colour and hight. I have all my books in English, Spanish, French and Italian on different shelves. Within each shelf I organize them by colour and height. And since I usually read different genres in different languages (biographies and self-help in Spanish; fantasy, mystery and poetry in English, etc), there’s no need for me to sort them by genre.

Thank you for what you do and for sharing it and for sharing all your people! You are all such a welcome part of my weekends. Amazingly, you often have a article featuring exactly what my own current projects are 😊 For example, I am now designing my ‘library’ in a small mh I am remodeling by myself for the ‘retirement’ chapters of my life! You are very talented and uplifting to watch and to hear ❤

Regarding books I’d say anything goes as long as they’re not spines to the wall. Spines to the wall is some ridiculous BS. Personally, I like them arranged in size, then colour. As in I sort out the colours so they’re even and pleasant to the eye – not organised in blobs of the same colour. So white, red, white, blue, white, green… etc… Taller books go at either end of the shelf and descend in height towards the centre of the shelf (like a gentle skate ramp). (My qualifications… librarian, history major and photographer) x

For my basic shelves I always try and organize mine by what type of book it is first (novel vs comic) then by author, then within that I usually just make the colours all pretty 🙂 If I can like up two different collections and connect them by a similar colur theme then that’s a bonus. For my “collection” shelves that hold manga series and art books, those get a shelf per series

I also thought the shelves were going to be too deep at first, but then I really ended up loving the idea of having space in front of the books for putting decor or other special items (or another row of books…🤔😆). Great idea for those of us with a ton of books because we don’t usually have room for the pretty extras.

i’ve built myself a walk-in wardrobe with that same ikea system. Honestly, yes, it’s cost effective, but if you can, maybe opt for sth with better quality. I’ve already had two shelves fall down because the thin side pieces are made of really flimsy metal and didn’t hold the wooden shelves up for long.

I have a book collection that “shrank” from 800+ books, after I had to move twice in a few months in the past months. I switched from the shelves, you used, to 3 Billy Bookcases (and plan to get the glass doors ~ less dusting✌🏻😁). I organize my books by Historical Setting of the novel’s story. As a booklover, I personally never got the colour coordinated/ (“rainbow”) organized bookcases. As my book covers aren’t that colourful/modern looking. Plus how do you ever find anything back?🤔

When I moved from California to Portugal in the middle of the pandemic, I gave up all of my 1500+ book collection except for 150 cookbooks and about the same in photography and travel books. With so few to concern myself with, I used two bookcases in two different rooms. The cookbook bookshelf is a simple cherry bookshelf from Room&Board that fits in well with our Danish/MCM esthetic. And yes, it’s colorized–each shelf goes from left to right, 🌈 style. As a confirmed bibliophile, I would argue that it is not only beautiful to look at, but it forces me to slow down a bit and enjoy what I have as I wonder whether that fondue book has an orange or green spine.

The shelves are too deep (and too spaced out), you can see in the end shot that the books have been pulled forwards and aren’t against the walls, and there is a void in the back left corner which is wasted space. The vibe and design is great, but if you had bought melamine shelving, brackets and tracks from a hardware store it would have worked out cheaper and you could have gotten an exact fit to the edges of the room leaving more space and accommodating more books.

Organize books in a library? Dewey decimal or Library of Congress of course! 😂 I am shocked at how beautiful this floating shelving looks. It makes me want to have an office / library again! So gorgeous wrapped around a corner. An AMAZING zoom background! But… we writers spend SO much time at our desks that it is actually injurious. I would like to see you work in more stylish club chair recliners and ergonomic desk chairs. Ideally a writer needs to be able to put her feet up when she stops to read something, and have excellent back support and have some motion in her desk chair. And she needs a few other seating options too! Hmmm.. There is an untapped market for this type of furniture — especially at a more reasonable price!

I’m an academic and just moved to a new apartment, so I’m currently in the process of setting up my own home office/library. Firstly I’m jealous of the library in the article; having to make several long distance moves I’ve had to significantly pair down my books. This time I only had 10 boxes of books to move. As for the organization, I go by categories such as dividing my fiction my genre, and work related books by topic. In large categories I divide up by size, with the larger books, such as textbooks, all together and smaller/shorter books together. This is just for the sake of shelf placement and maximizing space. The important thing that a lot a lot of people forget, or just don’t know to take into consideration when trying to make their books look nice is organizing by frequency of use. This is a human factors design concept; you want to put the books you use most, such as those you reference for work or hobbies, within easy reach. I do keep in mind that I do teleconferences, so I also make sure that the categories of books and decorative items that are in the background, are work-appropriate. I do front my books (put them at the front of the shelf), as a former librarian this is habit but I also think it looks neat and clean. I will organize by height, but not strictly so, as organizing completely by height makes it look a little cold. Having some variation in the height order makes it look like a collection that you actually use. I do not organize by color, yes it looks good on social media, but it’s completely non-user friendly as all your books are mixed together and they are harder to find when you need them, especially if you have a large collection.

Great to see a ton of books. Personally, I would add more shelves and some less deep. You lost all the space near the floor and lots of gaps between shelves, which will invite dust. The track shelves will be less likely to harbor mice if you have that concern where you live. When I moved out of a Victorian house, discovered a mouse nest behind book s on bottom shelf. My ideal book case would be vintage wood with glass doors. Also I would prefer a higher back on a chair to relax in. But otherwise, I love it. Fun to see your first article clip. Like the old cigarette commercial: “you’ve come a long way, baby” I need a light like that. You are right about the rug as well as. Cute curtains and tiebacks. TFS