1000+ books - how do you do a restful sitting room?

[Dontsvetmuchforafatgirl]

Can anyone help? I would love a restful, slightly floral sitting room but at the same time I cannot bear to part with my books. We will move soon.

We currently have four full size wall to floor Ikea Billy units and are already overflowing , so will probably need 5 in future.

At the moment we have the tv against different wall and sofa facing tv. So books are just back drop. But we are considering 3 different options for new room . Which one would be most restful? I love my books and want them in my face and able to touch them at any time but at the same time staring at shelf after shelf can give me a slight headache.

what would work best?

a) a built in tv unit into a wall of books
b) a full wall of books and sofa with its back to it and furniture facing tv as focal point
c) breaking the bookcases up around the room

Also any photos or links very much appreciated.

full wall full of books definitely. preferably built in rather than bookcases.

I would definitely have the books behind you. I would also avoid having that many books in the room unless you're going to go the whole hog and have it as a library. It will look too cluttered. Can't you have some
Somewhere else? Dining room maybe?

I personally cannot bear books in the living room. We had some custom-made bookcases built on the landing (and awkward pice of wall, just begging for some kind of shelving) and the books are there. We don't have 1000 though.....

If you are keeping the books in the living room, I would keep them together, rather than broken up all over the room. Built-in floor-to-ceiling units would maximise space.

an awkward piece of wall.......

Well, you can't have an uncluttered-looking living room if you've got 1,000 books in it. Can you?

We also have all our books on an upstairs landing but we turn them over at a rate of about 50 per year.

We also go to the library a lot.

Of your three options, I would go with a) - because I don't like having a TV as a focal point, so I think it's best blended into a wall of books.

In our old place, we had a wall of books and ornaments (mostly books) and then the TV sat in front on a small table. It worked well as the TV blended in and didn't jump out at you, in fact the wall was the focal point really - bit like having a feature wall.

I think this tends to work best if you have some shelves with ornaments/photo frames etc on, mixed in amongst the books, rather than 100% books.

Just an idea - and this would be quite a "country cottage" look so might not work for you - but what about having fabric panels or curtains across the front of the bookcases? You could draw them across for when you want a calmer look to the room.

We have ours on the landing too, covering a full wall, it looks really good (I think).

If they were to be in the living room I think I would want them behind me.

Mil has a full wall of books in her lounge, but the wall is so huge that despite having quite a library, some of the sections of shelf, have ornaments on and are very empty, this breaks it up and makes it less headachy.

I have finally managed to have a massive cull of books.

I donated to oxfam and now have only one bookcase . I wonder why I felt so attached to having so many books..it really is lovely having more sapce.
Sorry no help really but thought I'd share my recent cleansing.

Mine are all in the living room, we have one big wall that's effectively under the stairs (so triangular) and we have built in shelving there. It's done as a sort of a grid so some of the boxes are full of books, others have photo frames in, one has a lamp in, etc.

The position of this wall is such that if you're sitting in the living room, you pretty much have your back to it.

It was a nice idea in principle and it did look OK to start with, but it's got to the point of looking really cluttered and messy now.

This is why I love mumsnet - you have opened my eyes to the idea that I can put books in other rooms. I was just on autopilot assuming that books = sitting room.

I think I could cull and keep it max at 4 bookcases. There are some reference books I need for work and some favourites but I am definitely buying less since e-library ordering and e-books came along.
So I could do 2 full cases in sitting room.
Would it look strange to have them either side of the tv?

Also a full case in a bedroom, in the hall even?

Also is books either side of tv too "busy" looking? Would it be better to have them on opposite wall

How much do MNetters pay for built-in book shelving? Do you pay by the yard?

I need this, and am prepared to go cheap!

Personally I wouldn't put them either side of the tv where you have to constantly look at them if there is any danger of them looking messy (which I suspect there is unless you have thee hundred volumes of leather bound law statutes or something). I'd put them to the side or behind the sofa so that you see them when you enter the room but don't have to look at them
Permanently

I paid a joiner mate of mine - he charged by the day and I bought the materials (basically MDF plus paint!). It was money well spent because we were able to use every inch of storage space up to the ceiling.

Our books live in my office and the spare bedrooms. 5 floor to ceiling bookcases and 3 half height. My dad made them from solid pine, but a joiner would be able to do them easily

I think either side of the TV is fine - friends of ours have an IKEA set up with books all around the TV, and it looks nice to me. Admittedly, they only put nice looking books on display there - the much loved scruffs live in the bedroom!

Alternatively, can you make a sofa out of books? :o

I once made a coffee table out of books and a pin board on top. You could take books from any of the piles and they wouldn't affect the overall balance of the 'table'. It was a bit studenty though.

I would do a whole wall of books and ornaments and lamps and things but if you have them in a single planned shelcving assembly (purpose built), make sure books are together in even sizes, or similar colour spines, or some other aesthetic, then you can smooth out the cluttery look.

Yes to books in other rooms OP.
A shelf of books in our loo is a constant source of conversation with visitors.
We also have a bookcase in the spare room ,which is great for guests to find a book to read.

Replace with a kindle.

We have a lot of books, maybe not 1000 though. I keep only hardbacks, paperbacks all get given to friends.

We have floor to ceiling shelves in our study, for the entire length of one wall - this holds masses. We also have two big bookcases in an upstairs corridor.

No books in our sitting room.

we have a lot more books than that - atm they're in boxes & other random places around the house but in our plans for the year there's a wall + alcove of Billies in the dining room

What about <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=full+wall+bookcase&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&rlz=1T4ACAW_en___GB393&biw=1366&bih=618&tbm=isch&tbnid=i3uikoYT00p9sM:&imgrefurl=homesinteriordesign.info/Wall-Bookshelves.html&docid=2PT9qkCpKQpN_M&imgurl=www.walldesignworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Wall-Bookcase-Designs.jpg&w=500&h=387&ei=y_qWT4mNCcWj0QXw1pSHDg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=216&sig=117822532554838162422&page=1&tbnh=130&tbnw=181&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0,i:71&tx=92&ty=84" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this as an alternative design?

I am looking forward to getting a kindle for my birthday and having a book cull. Think I may do a car boot with all my books.

Will keep my Harry Potters though, for DD (sad of me, I know!)

We have 'colourbetised' the books, so they look a bit arty. I have put a picture on my profile, but only shows sideways on.
It makes for interesting browsing, but you have to have my DD's photographic memory if you need something in particular.

'DD, what colour is Travels With My Aunt?'