Home Library Tour

March 4, 2011

How do you celebrate Home Tour Fridays and National Read Across America Day (or week in our case)?

A tour of Home Libraries of course!

And thanks to Contributing Writer Sarah Farthing for this idea!

So off we go…

Beryn Hammil, of Beryn Hammil Designs, says, “I’m a professional interior designer, and a part time carpenter, and built this myself. The window seat faces my garden, and below the DVD player are pull out drawers to store DVD’s etc. My favorite book of recent vintage is Water for Elephants, soon to be released as a feature film.”

“We turned an unused corner of our living room into our personal library. It is also opposite our front door and immediately lets visitors know that this is a family that loves books. Choosing a favorite book is like picking a favorite child, it can’t be done. I love many books each for a specific reason.” But, when pressed, Jill Valeri of The Welcome Home: Interior Design Solutions says, “Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. Her writing makes me question my beliefs.”

“I designed and custom built a bookcase that cover the entire wall of my den, floor to ceiling. It holds, book, tv, has storage and makes use of my 10.5′ ceilings. It’s only 14″ deep so It does not eat much of the floor space. It’s the smartest thing I did to my condo. It looks great and adds much needed storage, form meets function,” says David Kean. He continues, ” I have to admit I’m a huge Ann Rice fan, I have first editions of most of her books, and lots of design and antique reference books. My favorite book would have to be Anne Rice’s The Witching Hour.”

John Miller shares his bookcase in his living room. His favorite book is his own: Egotopia: Narcissism and the New American Landscape, by John Miller.

Author Janice Gable Bashman adds, “A huge bookcase filled with my favorite books, an easy chair and an ottomon, an old wooden sea captain’s chair, and a bay window make my home library a wonderful place to read and write; it’s a place of true inspiration. My favorite book is Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth.”

And perhaps the most dramatic of the group:

Yep, this is just what it looks like…

The library that Sallie Trout of Trout Studios, a design practice that creates interiors, furniture, lighting, and hardware, designed for her home near Austin, Texas, is as stunning a flight of the imagination as it is of vertical space and precise joinery. Angling and climbing 40-feet high, the tower is painted pure white and flooded with natural light, making it a quasi-churchlike sanctuary for the family’s book collection.

Commonly used volumes are placed on the first six feet of shelving, and a boatswain’s chair on a remote-controlled chain hoist–like one found in a commercial garage–stands ready to access higher elevations (it can carry up to one ton). Trout used forms from arcane computer language to design the brackets supporting the powder-coated steel library shelves.

Incidentally, Sallie’s favorite book is The Superior Person’s Book of Words by Peter Bowler. Now she just has to scale up to retrieve it!

And I had to save this one for last:

This is the library of Jay Walker and you can see and read more at Wired Magazine’s: Browse the Artifacts of Geek History in Jay Walker’s Library. It’s worth the read to learn what all these items are (like that’s a real Sputnik – the Russians made a few – hanging there!)

It’s worth the read to learn what all these items are (like that’s a real Sputnik – the Russians made a few back-ups – hanging there.)

This is the upper room that the homeowner frequently uses for his business meetings. If you need to look something up quickly, everything is right there. Handy, right?

Well, one can dream.

I’m not sure which book is Mr. Walker’s favorite.

For the record, my favorite book is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Hands down, best book EVER.

Have a great weekend everyone! Happy reading…

You might like...

Category: Home Tours
Tags: home Libraries, home tour fridays, the best library |

5 Comments »

Cathy
on March 4, 2011 6:54 am
Great idea!! LOVED looking at all the libraries! and dreaming. Thanks! Think I’ll go pick up a book and start reading. 🙂
Sarah
on March 4, 2011 7:42 am
I have always loved Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky. John Miller’s favorite book being his own about narcissism cracked me up, that’s funny! That first library is my favorite but I also love the floor to ceiling book shelf David Kean built. We have high ceilings too and I would love something like that!
Susie B.
on March 4, 2011 8:11 am
If you want further inspiration, check out “Living with Books,” an awesome book of photos for creative shelving and storage of books. Here’s the Amazon link, or you can always check it out from your local library! http://www.amazon.com/Living-Books-Alan-Powers/dp/157959073X
Heidi Farmer
on March 4, 2011 9:04 am
Just ordered it! And I couldn’t help myself to a few more used books on gorgeous libraries too!
Whitney
on March 7, 2011 9:15 pm
I never get tired of looking at libraries!