Wednesday, 17 October 2012

My library

As long as I can remember, I've always wanted a library. I reckon it started when I was very little & obsessed with Disney's Beauty & the Beast - I was in awe of the castle library. And now, twenty-something years later, I have one of my very own!

It's taken us months to get it together, but all of the boxes are now finally unpacked and it looks a little something like this...

Bookcases - Ikea
Rainbow bookshelves! It's hard to explain the level of satisfaction you get by sorting books by colour, but it's brilliant. I hadn't originally planned to organise the library like this but am so glad I did - it just looks so pretty and makes me so happy! & it is surprisingly easy to find the book you are looking for. 


We've got a lot of books. The bookcases go the full length of one wall and curve round the corner, and are almost all full (more so than in the photo above!). Both Craig & I are massive bookworms so it's nice to finally have all of our books in one place. In the old flat they were just spread around in every spare corner, and it was a nightmare trying to find a specific one. 

Leather armchair -Thrifted
The armchairs (we have two) are my best ever thrifty find. I wanted a pair of classic library armchairs but didn't think it was likely to happen, given the ridiculous prices they go for. So I couldn't believe my luck when we popped into Four Square (a 2nd hand furniture shop) and found a matching pair for £45 EACH. 


Here's a wee snapshot of what's on our shelves. I studied English Literature at uni, so my course books make up a big part of the collection, and we're both into sci-fi and fantasy. I also collect old books, which makes for an interesting mix of book spines!

Vintage Philips radio - Thrifted | Bookcase lights & ceiling light - Ikea | Murdoch piano - Free (!!) from Gumtree
At the other end of the library there's my piano (which amazingly I got for free a couple of years ago), and our new (old) valve radio in the corner. We picked this up for £8 at a car boot sale last week and, apart from missing one button, it's in perfect working order!

The lights are all from Ikea (god bless you ikea, lords of cheap furniture), and I'm really chuffed with them, I think they help make it feel much more like a library, than just a couple of bookshelves popped together. 

The next stage is to decorate the walls - we've got a vintage map of Europe & some old play bills, which are pretty cool. It's all coming together!   http://test.skimlinks.com

21 comments :

  1. Juliet, this is amazing. It's ever readers dream to have a library like that and for a moment I thought i was just something from Pinterest you were wishing was yours. Congratulations! I would love to have a reading space like this and it sounds like you've done it pretty cheaply...Did those chairs really only cost £45? xx Lizz

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    1. Thank you! Yes, we were really lucky with the chairs.. still can't quite believe it. Think the bookcases were about £35 each too.. so the whole thing will have come in under about £300? Apart from the books, which have taken years and years to build up (and terrifying amounts of £ probably, ha!). xx

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  2. Yay it looks awesome! I have always wanted a library myself. Colour organised books look so great but I always wonder, how do you ever find what you're looking for if they're not alphabetical? I could never remember the colour of every single spine haha.

    http://www.rafflesbizarre.blogspot.com

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    1. It's honestly easier than you'd think, and it's just so much fun browsing! Feels like being in a wonderful book shop, but they're already mine! x

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  3. This is amazing! A library is one of the definite needs for my house once I grow up and move out and this is a dream! Love the piano as well and the chairs are amazing!

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  4. too much awesomeness! i love how you organized them by color. looks so pretty. i'm also in the process of building my book collection. you're inspiring me even more with these. :)

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  5. Juliet I am a massive fan and being such a visual person my self I love the idea of colour coding - ascetically beautiful and it is exactly how my brain works (responding better to colour/imagery and visual riches)Go girl!! xx

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  6. So....I'm drooling over here. I am SO jealous of this!!!

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  7. Wow, that is a lot of books. Love the way you organized them though. I wish we had enough books to do this but we just have a lot of comic books. Or books that are black or white. Boring!

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  8. WOW!!! This looks great! I basically want to live in your library! The boyfriend would be so jealous! A question though, do you then put them alphabetically in their colours ie in the red section a-z? Im such an organisation geek! xxx

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  9. i keep coming back to look at these pictures -- so much pretty! Very jealous.

    xo

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  10. I'm so jealous of those bookshelves! And the chairs are so great! Hard to believe you thrifted those!! Very nice library :)

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  11. I LOVE the colour-blocking of your books, it looks so cool! xxx

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  12. This is my dream!!! I've always said I wanted my own little library, I just now need somewhere to put it. If it even looks half as good as your it would have been an amzing job!! I love the style of this room! So jealous!!

    Helen

    x

    www.fragile-bird.blogspot.co.uk

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  13. WOW!! class! I love your library!

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  14. I love this! (probably not surprising!) We have a mini library in our living room, I love it. A house isn't a home without a bookshelf :)

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  15. This is so beautiful! It looks like the perfect place ot relax, organising books by colour just looks so beautiful xo

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  16. Amazing - love the idea of putting the books in colour order and the chairs and awesome!

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  17. This has to be the best ever blog post, I have serious house envy because this is a dream! I cannot wait to get my own place as this is exactly what I want!

    x

    http://whatamydidnxt.blogspot.co.uk

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Thank you so much for commenting, it is lovely and really makes my day!

If you have any questions I will do my best to answer them quickly, or you can also tweet me @eversojuliet

Ta!

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