TEN TIPS
HOME LIBRARIES THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT designers and librarians agree that there’s no one right way to display books in a home. (Although please, stay away from the trend of “spine-in” display. “While it may create a cohesive color palette, it’s cringeworthy to the bibliophiles of the world,” says Jackson- and Brooklyn, New York-based interior designer Felicity Sargent. “I am vehemently opposed to it.” We couldn’t agree more.) We asked three local experts to share what they think about when curating and displaying clients’ home libraries, which all agree should be as unique as their owners.
Make your books as interesting to look at as they are to read.
By Lila Edythe
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Home libraries don’t need to follow the Dewey Decimal System, and books don’t need to be arranged in a neat little row. They can be stacked, leaned, piled, and interspersed with other items. Have fun with it! The more unique, the better.
Personally, I prefer books without dust jackets for the more streamlined and elegant aesthetic it creates. So often there’s a beautiful binding hidden beneath the jacket. 2
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Color is a simple way to arrange things, and I understand when clients want to do that. Personally, I use this method to organize my closet, but not my bookshelf. I think contrast and variety are beautiful and, to me, when books are arranged by the colors of the rainbow, the display looks fussy and contrived. The most beautiful rooms look soulful and effortless.
This piece, which I stumbled upon at Home Again, isn’t just a home to books, but serves as a focal point in the room, filling a large blank wall with books and beautiful objects that add interest while offering dual-purpose storage: The top half is for display, while the bottom half is concealed for functional (and possibly unsightly) items. Here we’ve hidden a home office, including a printer and filing system.
RANGE ISSUE EIGHT 20
Photograph by Aaron Kraft
DESIGNER FELICITY SARGENT HAS STUDIED INTERIOR DESIGN, STUDIO ART, AND ART HISTORY, AND HAS A MASTER’S DEGREE IN ENGLISH LITERATURE, SO HOME LIBRARIES ARE CLOSE TO HER HEART. “EVEN THE SMALLEST LIVING SPACE IS DESERVING OF A DEDICATED HOME LIBRARY,” SHE SAYS. IN THIS 1,000-SQUARE-FOOT EAST JACKSON CONDO, SARGENT USED A PROMINENT PIECE OF FURNITURE TO DEFINE THE LIBRARY SPACE. “ITS HEIGHT ANCHORS THE SPACE,” SAYS SARGENT, WHO FOUNDED FELICITY SARGENT DESIGN IN 2015. “IT DRAWS THE EYE UPWARD, EMPHASIZING THE EXPANSE OF THE CEILING, WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY BRINGING THE SEATING AREA INWARD, CREATING A COZY, INTIMATE GATHERING SPACE.”