Every reading lover would love to have a library at home. And contrary to what many people think, it is not at all difficult to create your own private library. Regardless of the size or configuration, this room decoration icon was once a huge trend in homes.
But in reality, creating a library at home does not require great skills or a lot of space to become a reality. Just make the appropriate choices and get the elements right. And of course, have books!
However, it is necessary to take some precautions to maintain the useful life of books and not to leave everything disorganized. But in general, you just need an adequate, well-lit space, shelves or shelves and maybe, a very comfortable armchair.
In addition, the library can even become a powerful tool for integrating spaces, giving a special touch to a forgotten corner, enhancing the home office and even serving as a decorative element in the room.
Want to know how to create your own library at home? So, continue reading the article below that we will give you several precious tips. Get to work!
How to create your own library at home?
It is not at all complicated to create an environment for reading in your home. After all, nowadays we can count on many resources to house the books, whatever your available space at home.
There are compact and functional furniture, bookcases and shelves, as well as several ways to create niches and other creative ways to store and display books. All of this without having to take up a lot of space and adapting easily to any room in the house.
If you still don’t believe it, check out our tips below to create your ideal home library project through countless possibilities.
Determine the most suitable space
The home library can be placed under the stairwell.
A home library doesn’t need a lot of space or an entire room just for that purpose. This is because any corner can be transformed into a reading area and book collection.
Just an empty wall, the forgotten space under the stairs, a hall between the rooms, a corner of the room, the bedroom or even the office. The important thing is to determine that space and location before you start planning. Well, maybe some places may require custom furniture, shelves or shelves, but nothing impossible. Everything can be adjusted accordingly!
Provide the greatest comfort
The library at home should prioritize comfort in the room.
For you to be able to really engage in reading, you need to have a comfortable place. After all, reading is a time-consuming activity that requires attention and focus. If space is not an issue, you can invest in a large, comfortable, large desk or sofa.
Chaises and some armchairs are ideal for reading, as are poufs and cushions to perhaps even raise your feet and lean your head back. A home library needs to provide an environment of total introspection and warmth. Just don’t fall asleep!
Ensure good lighting
The home library should be well lit.
Reading in the dark is bad for your health and your eyesight, it can even give you a headache or cause major eye problems. Therefore, a self-respecting home library must have good lighting.
This can be solved in several ways, depending on the chosen space. It is possible to create a single focus of main light, which illuminates the entire environment, such as one or more luminaires on the ceiling, in the case of an entire room; or floor lamps and lamps, in scattered spots, in the case of a more reserved corner in the room.
Anyway, it is possible to create different points of light strategically scattered to create specific environments, with lower lighting, cozy and more conducive to reading.
It is worth remembering that, whether it is a room or a reading corner, avoid sun exposure where the books will be. You can have sun exposure with natural light, but not directly on the books.
4 – Avoid sound interference
As reading is an introspection activity, which requires focus, concentration and comfort, silence is essential. Therefore, the room or your reading corner to create your library at home should be practically sacred.
Therefore, avoid places of passage, close to rooms with a lot of movement in the house or placing TV or stereo equipment in your library. If possible, isolate the room so that it has acoustics totally free from any noise interference or distraction.
Plan the organization of the books
The library at home should have a book if objects are well organized and accessible.
If you want to create a library in each wing, it is expected that you have accumulated various titles on various subjects, so it is worth categorizing them in some way.
There are several options for organizing the books, and everything will depend on the location chosen and the way you want to expose them. Remembering that access to them must be easy and practical, otherwise, you will not read.
They can be organized in alphabetical order by title or author, and can also be separated by genre. There are those who like to organize by size and height to be visually more attractive.
Artbooks, like photography, add volume and are attractive, leave some with the cover on display. You can place some volumes lying down and others standing up to create movement on the shelf.
There are also dividers to better organize these sequences and not let them fall. But in general, feel free to arrange them however you want. Just be more careful with older or slightly damaged books.
You can separate them or even have them restored, in the case of rare and original specimens. If you have children, make shelves available to them, so accidents are avoided if they have the brilliant idea of climbing on the furniture, bookcase or shelf when trying to reach them.
Spread picture frames, glass balls and other pieces to bring balance with the books and group similar items observing the symmetry.
Further reading: Bedroom Bookshelf: 70 Ideas on How to Organize Your Space
Keep and clean up to date
The library at home must be kept clean and airy.
Books need special care to have a long shelf life because they are made of organic material (paper). Therefore, never handle books with dirty or greasy hands, as dirt, bacteria, and fungi contribute to the proliferation of mold and mildew, as well as moths.
To protect them from them, there are a number of recipes. Like, for example, spreading kerosene all over the bookcase, always keep the book area ventilated and leave camphor tablets on the shelves. In addition, mothballs, cloves, black peppercorns and bay leaves also work, but you will need to change them monthly.
In the case of leather covers, the ideal would be to cover them with a light layer of petroleum jelly to keep the fabric hydrated, and if the pages of the books are stained, rub bread crumbs on them. If they are mildew stains, remove them by rubbing a cloth moistened with vinegar, then wipe with dry cotton.
To prevent dust and dust from taking over them, clean them with a flannel or duster, at least twice a week, passing on the sides and ends to remove the accumulated excess. The bookshelves with glass doors are the most suitable for storing books, as they keep everyone protected from insects and dust.
To prevent mold, put perfume on them, avoiding making them moist. Speaking of which, moisture in the place should be avoided at all costs. If any book is damp, place it in the sun for a few minutes before placing it in the library.
If the humidity in the place cannot be avoided, you can spread cotton soaked in turpentine, a substance sold in the store for the product of an art, changing the cotton pads every two or three months, depending on the humidity level of the environment.
Choose the furniture well
Furniture can be custom-made to create your home library.
To set up a library at home, you need to choose the furniture that will receive the books, not only according to the style you want to give to the environment, but also considering the space, the number of books and their weight.
In the case of heavy specimens, the furniture will have to be made of firm wood or shelves and shelves firmly attached to the wall. If the room is small, use only shelves and niches, if the entire room is used, invest in bookcases, especially with glass doors, to help protect the books.
There are also several options of furniture made to measure for books, with different cuts on different materials. Just unleash your creativity!
Work the aesthetics of the project
Home library working on aesthetics with lighted shelves.
Your library at home does not only need to store books but also look good to be very inviting or add value to your property with a beautiful interior design project.
The books already have colors and formats that promote a certain dynamism and movement, but nothing prevents you from creating a specific aesthetic for the room or reading corner when harmonizing the books with other finishes.
Like, for example, combining shades when displaying books of different models on the same shelf. In this case, the mixture of layers will make the look very colorful and may add even more value to the set with a neutral background, such as a wall stained in white, brown or gray.
On the other hand, if you only display copies of the same collection, play with the colors. For example, grouping black or red layers, to create a contrast on a yellow or orange wall.
Another tip is to invest in details with different coverings, such as a wall with porcelain tiles that reproduce bricks and, on top of it, have wooden shelves from demolition. The same effect can be achieved with niches and hollow-bottom shelves.
In such cases, fill the back (visible wall area) with inserts, decorated tiles or patterned ceramic plates of models with different reliefs, cuts and designs.
In any case, always try to adapt the pattern of the lining to the material used in the furniture that will be accommodating the books.
Define a style
Whatever your library at home, it is essential to define a style that will fit perfectly with the rest of your home decor. Here what matters is your taste and preference.
There are several ways to create a library at home, choose one of all the styles below or combine more than one, you can’t go wrong. Check it out:
Classic style
Home library in classic style
If your library at home can have a room just for this purpose or a huge space that has many walls that can be incorporated into it, the classic style version is ideal. In this case, invest in caramel leather furniture, wooden tables and golden chandeliers. You can still be bold in the tones of the walls or even the bookcase, betting on colors that match the rest of the furniture.
Climbing Style
Home library in the style of climbing, with niches climbing steps.
If you don’t have a lot of space, taking advantage of some areas around the house is a creative and smart way to decorate the environment. Even without a specific room, it is possible to create a library at home, opting for irreverent and fun outings.
Like, for example, arranging the titles along the stairs or even in a gap under it. Another option is to make the bookcase a connection between one room and another, creating partitions in the rooms or set up a triangular structure, imitating the ladder to arrange the books.
Incorporated into the living room
Home library incorporated into the living room.
One of the most common forms of the home library is to set it up in the social environment, especially if you don’t have many rooms. To add a certain variety, mix other design objects, decorative pieces, and even geek miniatures to the books.
Another idea is to opt for a more sober layout, with books framing the television panel, using them as paintings or mixing them with screens and illustrations to make the layout more intriguing.
Read more: Decorate a small room with little money? See tips!
Living wall style
Home library in the living wall style
This way of dividing rooms is a little unusual, but it works if done the right way. The ideal is to incorporate the structure of the house plan to assemble the shelves so that they divide the rooms without segregating the rooms.
This will make the house more fluid, with its own personality. However, if you do not have a high ceiling, opt for hollow shelves, so as not to weigh in the rooms.
Style with bookshelves
Home library with bookshelves
This is the most traditional option that usually works well in social environments, such as living and dining rooms. The great advantage is being able to choose several models of shelves on the market, which harmonize with the structure and decoration of the room.
A magazine rack must be 25 cm, art books require about 35 cm and the height between the shelves must be 40 cm. Depending on your preference and available area in the room, the shelves can be rectilinear, curved (organic) or irregular (with diverging niches).
They can be supported against a wall or be positioned in the center of the room as a panel or partition. The leaked models are excellent for this, and can even be a wall of large cobogós – keeping the books visible on both sides of the structure.
Style with shelves
Home library with shelves
The shelves are practical and elegant and can be fixed in various ways in any environment, of all sizes, helping to save space. At the same time, they provide extra surfaces for other decorative objects.
To create your library at home, bet on continuous pieces, which create extensive horizontal lines on the wall. Another option is to combine several shelves of different sizes, distributing them randomly, at different heights and distances.
Observe if any of them have ends limited by vertical barriers, to prevent books from falling. If not, there are separators that help organize the batteries and prevent them from slipping off the shelf.
Read more: Corner Shelf Models! + Photos!
Style with niches
Home library with climbing niches
Like shelves and shelves, niches are also super versatile and can be found in many formats, from the simplest to the most complex. The advantage of the niche is being able to use it individually or to fit it to other models, composing a panel with different volumes.
As they are closed in the corners, they protect from falling and prevent the batteries from falling. They can also be hollow or not, and even have glass doors.
In addition, they can be installed in several different locations, creating creative corners and delimiting the environment for reading. For example, in the empty space under a ladder, acting as built-in cabinets.
Style on surfaces
Home library using the surface of a sideboard.
Finally, if you don’t like bookcases, niches and shelves, you can also bet on the tops of the furniture to expose the books, if your goal is to keep only a few copies insight.
Therefore, use the surface of a sideboard, a side table, a dresser and even a desk for this. Or, dare even more using the end of the steps of a staircase.
Did you like our tips and ideas on how to set up your own library at home? Try setting up your project and come here to tell us what the result was!
