This is a Guest post from one of my favourite, outrageous bloggers, Awesome Sara! She is my first guest blogger and I have also mentioned her in a previous post where you probably thought, what the heck is this? Enjoy;
Let Me introduce myself. I’m Sara from Sara Says Awesome. When the great Maria (that’s the name of the person that made this blog idiot) asked me to do a guest post I was so freaking thrilled!!! Like Julie Andrews spinning on a mountain top kind of excited!! Then when that was over. All I thought was holy f**K. This Maria is like a freaking expert and I’m just a really good looking amature. Yea, I’m serious I really am really good looking. I was like what the hell am I suppose to right about???
Then I remembered Maria thinks I’m the kitty’s pajamas and everything I do is awesome. So that was it. One day it just came and I wanted to do everything in color. Because Maria=color (and awesome and sexy and way cool) I wanted to keep the same vibe as her blog but add my psychotic-ness to it. That’s my preface. Let’s get to it, yea! I hope you enjoy it.
So, maybe I’m a little late here has everyone noticed that everyone has been color coding their bookshelves???
By putting the same color next to one another it makes it easier on the eye to compute what it is looking at.
Does this mean I have to start buying books bc of the spine color? Oh no I don’t have enough red spines, must buy red spines!!
Note from Maria: Because coffee table books are important elements to include when styling coffee tables, I am always buying them for my clients; but they have to be the right colour to work with the decor!! Also if you do have a lot of colourful books, the images above are certainly an effective way to style a bookshelf. So I loved this post, thanks Awesome Sara!!
Related post:
Colour & Condoms
Umm. It is alphabetical all the way for this chica. I may seperate by topic…like a shelf for landscaping books, which will be alphabetical, and a shelf for art books, interior design, novels etc… Ohterwise I would have a hard time finding any particular book.
I have heard that you should make book covers that match your own decor…y'known…just too many books. It sure looks pretty, though.
One more thing, the image with the bokks arranged so yu see the edges of the pages…organizational nightmare.
Monica Kelly
[email protected]
Love this idea! Is it bad that I want to go out and buy a bunch of properly-coloured books??
Great post, Sara! I love all the images you chose (and they work so well with Maria's blog!). Although I like how the one with the pages facing forward looks, I'm not sure how practical that would be. If you didn't actually use the books though, it may be a nice way to bring some texture into the room. This post really makes me want to buy more books…
Excellent guest post, Miss Sara!
I love the books turned on their sides and arranged like a Tetris cube. Practical? Ah, no. Cool? Hell yes!
One of my francophone friends pointed out to me that colored book covers is a very english thing. We were at that time in a small french bookstore where probably 90% of the books had natural paper covers and subdued typeface. Beautiful!
However, I think he was exaggerating because all the french chain bookstores are full of typical flamboyant covers. Maybe those are from the same publisher, I'm not sure…. it's all speculation at this point, but thought I'd share given the topic of your post!
Very cool. Too bad I don't have a lot of diffent color books.
Very creative entry!
I like to cover my books with white paper at the studio, they are usually reference books but at home the first thing I do is to take out the paper covers and leave the books with their beautiful linen covers their own skin – often the colours are way more sophisticated and the border of the books have either silver or gold metallic ink which adds a splash of glam to the space.
I must say, this is one of the silliest design trends I have ever seen. Novel. Pardon the pun. But way too much work and too silly for words!! Great pics tho'.
Sara! Good work, cupcake. Love it!
radical post!!! so beautiful!!!
and it is iMPOSSIBLE to find any book with this system, but i guess that is beside the point! or maybe there is a color coded card catalogue index system that makes it all make sense!
Never thought/noticed that before – what a great idea!
Fun post, Sara. I'm with the "organize by title" people. If I had to remember what colour the book was instead of its genre I would go just a little mad. And those books with the spines hidden–true nightmare.
I am glad Meade Design Group said that he takes the covers off. I also do this and I usually feel kind of guilty for removing the protective dust jacket. But the colours look so much nicer and they do blend easier. When I am putting books on a table for display I definitely take colour into consideration. When I have people for dinner I always place a book or two in strategic places. The people who read everything (I am one of them) always pick one up and start an interesting conversation.
Thanks for the very colourful post.
Great Job Sara, great idea!!! i guess you have to alphabetize them within their color codings and make a color coded chart? sounds like fun.
Cute personality Sara…and an interesting concept. Well done!
Blessings….(thanks Maria for sharing Sara!)
Oh no, another thing to keep track of. I need more blue books. Yikes!
Oh Good Lord Sara…This was Pure AWESOMENESS!!! I totally want to do this. You rock the planet baybee!
really pretty but i'm not sure i could live with it all the time…
A woman I know in Dallas hired a decorator to redo her teenager daughter's room. She's bookish and studious. The room looked fabulous, everything all white and cream and subdued, down to the books on her shelves which he'd covered carefully in white paper. She loved the look and spent the weekend carefully writing the titles of the books on the spines in pencil, so she could find them to read them. When the decorated spied them the next week, he screamed, "You've ruined them!" and stomped out.
Hope the door kicked the decorator in the a** on the way out.
I think it such an awesome, artsy way to bring color into a room in such an unobtrusive way!I'll have to give it a try when I get enough colorful books…I think it would be neat to do a bunch of blue colors in a cottage, nothing but shades of blue :o)
Well I know that I must work on my bookshelves, I do like to have some of the books vertical and some horizontal and somewhat color coordinated.
I think this post separates the readers from the lookers. For those of us who actually read our books, having them arranged in such a way we can FIND them is important. Looks matter to me. I do arrange my books in a pleasing (to me) way. I think the color blocking is insipid and way too intrusive in a room. It's the kind of design that people in the past who bought books by the yard would think up.
I am a huge reader and I have a mass amount of books in my basement shelves. I often arrange by size but it never looks right but to do it by color ohhhh I like. I don't re read books often enough to worry about having to find them too often if they are a bit 'mixed up'. Dust jackets are coming off and I'm going to have some fun one afternoon organising my books!
You know this is the second time that there has been a post on books that I had to sit back and wonder what my clients do after I re-arrange their books to have them look part of the design. With reference book I ask what I can and can not do, but most of the time I'm rearranging and editting till it looks like I want.
Sara, I love some of the pictures you posted and wish all my books had wonderful colored covers that matched or went together, but sad to say, I don't and I think I would have to slap someone if they came in my office and moved my books around,LOL,, Oh they are some what staged, but do they look as pleasing as these photos, NO!
You should slap that decorator in Dallas.
I’ll help:)
I must agree with most of the comments here. Very interesting idea, but not at all practical. I keep my books alphabetical by author, then chronologically within that. It just makes sense to me. I find a wall of books beautiful and fun to look through already, I don't need the rainbow effect. I could only see this being done for some kind of art installation or if the person had a small bookshelf of books they didn't need anymore, so that they could just stay in their rainbow order. I'm a big book reader, so I must choose function over trend in this case. Cheers all!
cool! 🙂
Interesting — and colorful post. Makes the books' covers more important their contents, for sure. OK if you're not a reader. As to the picture with the books turned around backward, I can't even think of an appropriate response except to say — why have books at all!
Enjoy your blog even tho the books by color idea is not for me. But then, I admit to being "decor-challenged."
Joanie
I agree with "Home before dark" since in my opinion books are NOT part of Interior decoration, but simply to be read (and re-read years after). Art (real art) and books don't need to match the decor (my opinion).
Fun post, Sara 🙂 And cool pictures. I like the one where the books change from green to green blue to blue as they go from left to right. And I really like how the colour blocks of books are interspersed with accessories and baskets in the last picture.
I'm just looking over at my bookcase now. I organize my books by size, but I'm curious to see how they would look organized by colour. I might try it one day 🙂
Kelly
Love the colorblocking idea (looks absolultely smashing), but I'd never be able to find anything because my brain just doesn't work that way ;). I mostly organize by topic, but I do have a few stacks that are organized by color and used as platforms for some of our Russel Wright serving pieces. Great post Sara!
I'm trying to do use only all white/cream books for the shelf in my living room right now. I had no idea it would be so difficult to find that many books in one color!! But the other elements on the shelf are really starting to pop.
Awesome post Sara!!
Oh help. Can we remember what books are for? If I want a rainbow on my wall I can paint it on. I have to believe that someone who decides to arrange books by color probably hasn't read a ton of books. Isn't there joy in actually being able to find a book to lend to a friend? I am a most disorganized person, but my books are organized by genre, then author. They are decorative enough in that format.
love this idea, wish i had a big room to pull this off. designer stefan beckman did a wall of hand-dyed books for a party for the french fashion brand hermes, a whole library-full!
http://www.bizbash.com/newyork/content/editorial/17717_herm_s_creates_a_lavish_mans_world_for_store_opening_party.php
That is just too funny Maria! I laughed out loud and then thought–Oh my goodness! It's 1:00am–I'll wake up the kids!
These photos look a little extreme–but do you seriously want us to put our books in big color blocks? I don't mind..I actually worked on that the other night (a whole two hours actually!) I wish I had seen this post first. I was afraid I wasn't supposed to put all the books of one color in one spot–just a big chunk. I hadn't thought of it as color blocking though. Interesting thought!
But no way would I do the backs of the books (with just the pages showing)!!I assume the only people who would do that like to decorate more than they like to read. Too funny!
Sounds like a neat friend. :o)
xo
Donna @ Comin' Home
PS. Hubby is gone this week…and I'm not sleepy–Drat that latte!