Home Library: How to Design It Right

Learn how to design your own perfect library at home to create a special space for reading and those rare moments of peace and quiet.
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How To Create a Library in Your Home

You know what they say, a home is not complete without a library and a reading nook where you can enjoy quiet moments exploring unknown worlds. There are plenty of traditional and contemporary designs you can choose from, and whether you dedicate a single shelf for your book collection or an entire wall in the living room, there are still several essential rules you want to follow.

These rules will help you get the most out of your reading experience, and make it a true pleasure to revisit the beauty of the written word regularly. Here is the essential guide on how to design your perfect home library.

Choose the perfect location

The first thing you’ll want to do is choose the perfect location for your library, as not only does it have to serve an aesthetic purpose in elevating your home’s interior design, but it should also be functional and easy to reach. Start by deciding which specific room you’ll want to use to accommodate your new library.

Usually, this is the living room, or the bedroom. Next, consider the amount of wall space you’ll need to seamlessly integrate your library into the design. You don’t want it to pop or be intrusive, you want it to complement its surroundings. Try to pick a wall where furniture can be placed or a reading nook created easily, preferably by a window.

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Settle on a color scheme

Next, it’s time to pick a color scheme. Plenty of people don’t give the color scheme of their new library enough consideration, opting for anything that’s functional, but ultimately lacks the needed aesthetic appeal. You want to choose the color of your library very carefully by envisioning how it will complement or deconstruct the surrounding design.

Fortunately, there are plenty of options to choose from, from dark wood to light, from a grey hue to pure white and even intimate black. Depending on the design of the room, you can either go modern, traditional or even transitional.

Create ample storage

One of the most important aspects of building your home library is prudent thinking. It’s not about how many books you have now, it’s about how many books you intend to have. Because such a thing can be extremely hard to predict, especially if you’re an avid reader, you want to go for maximum storage and careful organization.

With plenty of designs on the market ranging in width and height, you want to research contemporary shelving solutions that not only correspond with your interior design but are sturdy and reliable enough to support the weight of the books. Try to look for library designs that boast a variety of configurations so that you can emphasize the works you love most.

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Get the lighting just right

In a place where you need to immerse yourself in a different world and set sail on a journey of exploration, lighting is crucial. You want to make sure your reading nook, couch, or chair is amply illuminated by natural light throughout the day, so consider taking down your window treatments and even expanding the window scheme altogether.

For those long reading hours in the evening, you want to have warm artificial lighting casting a soft glow on the paper. However, it still needs to be luminous enough for you to read the words with ease and without tiring out your eyes.

Furniture layout is crucial

Finally, the positioning of the furniture will play a huge role in how you perceive and experience your library, as well as your reading sessions. While you should definitely plan this stage in advance, you probably won’t find the ideal position for your reading chair or nook before you have the chance to take it for a test run.

Through a little trial and error, you will soon find the spot in the room where the daylight sits just right, and the artificial lighting casts the perfect glow. If you like to change places from time to time, be sure to position several furniture pieces the same way.

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Key Takeaway

A home library is one of the most rewarding additions you can introduce into your interior design and your life in general. Be sure to follow these essential steps and you will have no problem building the library you always wanted.

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