How to create your own at-home library

Take in account of your book collection

The first thing you're going to have to be conscious about is your book collection. This just means to be aware of how many books you have in order to arrange a space for your home library. It’s possible that without being properly mindful about how many books you have that you might misjudge the size of the library that you need! So you can be very surprised once you take in account of everything you have to work with - it's no surprise if it's more than you think considering if you may have collected them over many years.

Think about the space

Now, think about the space where your home library can be placed. Whether that be an old, small spare room, the corner nooks of your bedroom or living room, in the basement or even the attic!
Use what space you have available. Try to avoid places that get damp and mould easily such as outside hall areas, or near where foods and drinks are as it can attract insects which can be damaging to the library.

Floating shelves, cube storage or bookcase?

Now comes to the main part of the library: the furniture! There are so many types of storage units you can choose from, so decide what works best with the space and number of books you have. If you are tight on space, you can get floating shelves and line them side by side and stacking them upwards which saves floor space. If not, you can get cube storage for your books which are very cute to stack books into, plants, and other accent pieces of decor to style your library. Another classic piece of book furniture is a bookcase! These are great as they come in many sizes, so take your pick!
Keep in mind the style and theme of your library space so you can match your furniture and décor with it.

Place your books inside

Arrange your books how you like! Whether that be stacking them upright or flat, or a mix of both, place them inside your shelves. Leave some space for some plants and items of aesthetic value!

A popular, unique trend with book placement is to colour coordinate your books! Seems strange at first, but if you arrange your books by colour, it is quite extraordinary and visually vibrant! It may take a lot of hard work at first but is definitely worth it if your collection is very varied in colour.

Seating arrangement

All great, comfortable, and complete libraries come with comfortable seating options. Place a comfortable armchair, mini sofa or even a bean bag in your library so you can spend hours relaxing and reading. Pouffes and footstools are also great so you can create a feet up mood, especially if they come with storage, so you can place blankets and cushions inside when it gets cold!

You can drape a comforter, quilt or throw blanket over your seating option to give your home library an inviting and intimate look.

Perch for drinks and snacks

Next to your seating chair, place a small table stand so you can place your book, a cup of tea, and some snacks on it. This just makes life easier and reading much more enjoyable! You will find this to be a necessity when it comes to reading in your home library.

Lighting for reading!

Another important factor is lighting, which is something that can be easily forgotten when constructing a home library. Your library may be placed in an area in your home, or corner, where sunlight or the artificial light does not reach well. So, assure that you incorporate efficient lighting for in the ceiling for example dimmers, recessed spotlights, track lighting, a pendant, chandelier etc

Think about lighting fixtures where you can control the amount of light that illuminates the room. For example, dimmers so that you can increase intensity when it comes to night-time reading or darker afternoons, or if you want a more relaxed lighting you can dial it down. Track lighting is also great as you control where the light goes!

You also need additional forms of lighting, such as lamps, fairy lights, LED lights etc. Place a lamp near your seating area where you will read, such as on a table. Use fairy lights or LED lights on top of your bookshelves or around them. You can add lighting under the shelved to illuminate the books beneath them, you can stick a long wireless portable light or individual, circular-shaped puck lights.

Final touches

Place pots of plants, flowers, vintage toys, and collectible items around the home library. For example, on shelves, on a table, or by a window. You can also hang pictures on the wall to finish off your library. Try making this as sentimental as you can, this will just add some personality and comfortable sense of familiarity in your home library so it's less foreign and much more relaxing for you to settle into.