Set Up The House Library: How to Organize The Perfect Organization System for The Reading Room
It used to be an inseparable part of the apartment and one of the most popular rooms at home: the house library. In the 90s, however, it fell into oblivion and was considered old-fashioned. But in recent years, the reading room and the reading corner are experiencing a true comeback and are literally becoming a jewel in the house. In Hollywood, there are even specialized interior designers who effectively flaunt the book collections of the rich and beautiful. With good planning and a bit of imagination, anyone can set up their home library. We explain what you should consider when organizing and how you can sort your favorite books effectively!
Set up the house library: step by step to a cozy reading room
Admittedly, when it comes to atmosphere, books are at the forefront. Together with vases, pictures, tricks and home accessories, they can be effectively staged and give character to every room. But in order for your own book collection to come into its own, good planning is necessary. Here and there a book on side tables, shelves and even on the floor and quickly the décor seems chaotic. It looks much better if the books are arranged in a wall shelf. But even for this, tact is necessary.
If you want to set up a home library, then the first thing you should think about is what furniture you need. A modular system offers flexible room solutions for rooms with sloping ceilings or niches. Freestanding models can visually separate a corner in the living room. For smaller book collections, wall shelves are suitable. No matter what you choose, you should stick to some basic rules when organizing the books:
- Position the shelving system in the room in such a way that no direct sunlight falls on the books.
- Otherwise, the colors can fade and the paper ages much faster. The heavy and large books come down, the light and small ones up. This will ensure that the weight is evenly distributed and that the bookshelf does not tip over.
- No matter how big your own collection may be, don't arrange the books too closely together.
- Otherwise, the room looks crowded and messy, access is difficult and there is no room for new books.Set up a cozy reading corner just under a window.
- Place the armchair, day bed or sofa so that the sunlight falls on the side of it. Otherwise, the strong sun may dazzle you while reading.
- Sort the books so that you can orient yourself quickly. In this regard, we give you several tips.
- Illuminate the bookshelf. A beautiful indirect lighting, for example through integrated LED strips, allows the books to come into their own even in the evening.
- An adjustable floor lamp provides soft light for the reading corner itself. The right heating and cooling: As romantic as a crackling fire looks, the fireplace or stove is not suitable for the reading room. There is always a risk of fire.
- On the other hand, a gas heater is safer, although not as comfortable. Even in summer you should have it cozy in the house library. Air conditioning can provide the necessary cooling on hot days.
Set up a house library: Organizing systems for your own reading room
To ensure that the reading room is not only functional, but also stylishly furnished, various organizing systems come to the rescue. For example, you can sort the books by color. The result is a rainbow colour palette that makes the house library shine in red, blue, yellow and green. The colors not only make the bookshelf look very decorative, but they also help with orientation. We explain how you can sort your book collection by color in just a few steps.
1. First, sort your books by topic or category (for example, architecture, poetry, travel, etc.). Have all books re-bound. Have all books from a category bound in the same color. Alternatively, you can divide the books from a category into several groups and bind each group into a shade of hue. For example: Category Travel (color blue), Group exotic trips (nuance dove blue).
2. Each category must not have more than three groups, otherwise the ensemble looks too colorful. Arrange the books on the bookshelf, grouping the books by shade of a color.
3. You can try two variants: You start with the lightest nuance and first arrange all the books in light blue, then all the books in azure blue and then all the books in royal blue. This is how you create beautiful color gradients. Or you can arrange alternately light blue and dark blue books, creating effective accents.
Library Organizing System: Sort Books by Color
Don't forget to create a catalog and mark on it which books can be found where. The books you read most often come to the middle of the bookshelf, preferably at eye level. The books you rarely read come either at the top or at the bottom. When distributing the colors in the room, you should also take this rule into account.
And even if you have a lot of categories and groups, try to create the quietest possible living image. This means: First, let the books bind only in the basic colors and their nuances. Only when you want to add your own book collection, you can add a new color to the color palette. You can display additional home accessories, pictures and other small decorative items along with the books. However, make sure that they are also tone-on-tone with the books.
A rainbow bookshelf automatically attracts everyone's attention. The rest of the furniture should therefore be kept as simple as possible. Such a house library fits into facilities in the minimalist, Scandinavian or purist style of living. However, if the reading room is already furnished and the furniture and decoration have strong colors, then the bookshelf should be designed restrained. You could have all the books bound in white with just one colored stripe.
Organize Library: Sort Books by Genre
If you want to let your creativity run wild and design a unique bookshelf, then the next idea is for you. You can sort the books by genre and then have them bound so that together they create a puzzle picture. The picture not only looks very decorative, but also reveals the genre. For example, books on the subject of "art" can result in a painting and books on the subject of "sports" – a photo of a sports event.
Sort books alphabetically
Alternatively, you can sort the books alphabetically or sort one part by genre and the others alphabetically. It all depends on which themes you prefer and how much free space you have on the bookshelf. This method is time-consuming, but with a simple trick, you can quickly sort your book collection. In the Quick Sort process, a book is selected and positioned in the middle of the book collection. The other books are arranged accordingly on the left, if their author or title is preceded in the alphabet.
If the author or title is recreated, they are arranged to the right of the book. Then the left group is first divided into two and then the right and alphabetically sorted. You proceed in a similar way – you choose a book that is placed in the middle of the group and sort the books according to their title to the left and right of the selected book. The Quick Sort process can save a lot of time if the collection is large.
By the way, whether you sort the books by author or by title depends on how many books by the same author you have. If you have a lot of books by one author, then you should rather sort them by title. If the books are by different authors, then you can sort them by the authors.
Sort books by topic
If it is specialist literature, you can also sort the books by topic. This variant is suitable for large families, where each family member is interested in a specific topic (for example, medicine, psychology, architecture, cooking, gardening, travel, etc.). The books that belong to a group can be bound in the same color. So everyone can orient themselves quickly. Leave enough space for new books.
Sort books neatly
Alternatively, you can sort your books by size and height. This method serves to arrange the favorite works aesthetically. But it doesn't make searching for a specific book any easier. Therefore, it is only suitable for a small house library.
Sort books in a space-saving way
Your own book collection is very large, but the bookshelf does not offer enough space for it? Then you can sort your books in a space-saving way. That is – do not stack the books on top of each other, but place them close together. So that the bookshelf does not look chaotic and crowded, in some compartments you can only display decorative pieces. So you can set specific accents and spice up the bookshelf.
If you want to set up a home library, then you are facing a great challenge. Think about how you can make the available space not only practical, but also cozy. Choose the right seating and lighting. Plan the bookshelf so that you have enough space for decorations or new books. Sort the books by topic, author, alphabetically or by genre: It is important that you keep track and can quickly find your favorite works. In the photo gallery below you will find several examples of stylish reading rooms.