Chris and I have been looking into houses, because frankly we have too much shit for our one-bedroom apartment. We both have major hobbies that take up LOTS of space – Lego and reading. We’ve talked about looking into 2 or 3 bedroom houses (hopefully with a finished basement) so I can have a library and he can have a Lego studio. Maybe these are pipe dreams, but we’re certainly looking! We have zero plans for children in the future, so we’re going to let ourselves do whatever we want with our extra rooms!
I love Amy’s Nookish posts and have been adding bookshelf pictures to my Pinterest for as long as I can remember. I love planning what I want my library to look like in my nonexistent house, so here are some ideas I’ve been pining over. [Images from Pinterest and/or link to stores]
Built-in bookshelves
My dad is a great DIY person and has a huge built-in wall of shelving for his CD collection (#dads, amrite?). I plan to have him deck out the walls with built-ins, so I don’t have to worry about buying and assembling a million shelves. I would love to have them around at least three out of the four walls. I know my dad would take care of this for me, so it feels like a pretty achievable goal for this room! I may leave one wall empty (above the bed – more on that in a second) because I’d like to have a place to hang bookish posters and prints that don’t have a home elsewhere in the house.
A cozy daybed
My childhood twin-sized bed is easily the most comfortable place on the planet. My mom said that if Chris and I get a house, I can steal it from them… thank god. I want it in my library! I plan to deck it out with a cool bedspread (probably something nice with flowers because Chris won’t let me pick that kind of thing for the bedroom!) and a bunch of pillows. Because the library will essentially double as a guest room, this bed will
be perfect in here. It’d be the perfect way to lounge and read for me when we don’t have guests. It would be amazing to have it built-in to the wall like the picture shows, but I don’t see that happening. As I mentioned earlier, I think it would be great to have some space on that wall to hang bookish prints and posters.
Book-related decor
I hope to increase the amount of bookish decor that I own by the time we get a house. I add so many things to wishlists; it’s not safe for my wallet. I love quote prints, posters, and pillows. There are soOoO many bookish thin
gs I want to buy but just have absolutely no space for. The bed in our room is barely made half of the time because we don’t usually have anyone over to judge us. I want to have a bunch of book-related pillows alllll over my nice daybed in the new house. I already have some book posters and have a lot of quote prints that I want to buy, but again – no room anywhere for them! My thought is
that I’ll make sure that the wall with the bed on it is free, so I can have some kind of gallery wall above it. I’m sure it will end up as mostly Harry Potter stuff, but who can blame me?
Bright colors and string lights
I am a sucker for strings of lights: plain ones, ones with paper balls on them, colored ones, heart-shaped ones… literally GIMME all of them. We hang lights for Christmas but don’t use them as “decor” anywhere. I want these things draped over every surface in my library, so I can turn off the main lights and be cozy as hell in my sanctuary. Is that so much to ask? No, I don’t think so. As I mentioned above, Chris is pretty picky about decorations throughout the rest of the apartment. He’s not a fan of floral print, whereas I could deck my whole life out with that shit. I definitely plan to have a bold and bright floral print bedspread on the daybed in the library, and lots of matching throw rugs (if needed), pillows, and comfy blankets. This will be my area to decorate a room completely with my own ideas and color schemes. Chris will have no say in the matter. I want this room to literally look like a cave of comfort. At one point, I considered just having a mattress in the middle of the floor with a bunch of pillows and blan
kets for the ultimate lounge spot, but I decided to be a bit more ~adult~ and have an actual guest room/bed. If I’m feeling adventurous enough, I’ll paint the built-in shelves with some funky colors to match the room.
Desk and more seating
Besides the bed, I’d love to have a comfy chair to hang out in. I think it’s a necessary addition to any library, right? I also would love a table or desk of some kind. It’d be nice to store my planner supplies in my library and have a desk to work on them. My desk in my bedroom is always full of NOTHING important, so I never get to use it. The desk could also be a nice place to take bookish pictures, as long as I keep it clean enough! 😉
BOOKS
I know this is an obvious one, but I think sometimes that aspect gets away from me. I’m creating this oasis where I can hang out and decorate everything to MY liking… but obviously the whole point is the books! I can’t wait to have plenty of space to store books and not wonder where the heck I’m going to fit any new acquisitions. I am MUCH better about book buying than I used to be, but I still have that issue a few times per month. I hope to have enough shelves to fit all of my existing books and any future books I may acquire.
I wish there was more room in my “library” for more bookish decorations/prints/THINGS. The shelves kind of take up most of the space haha! I guess I could move our map to somewhere else but I’ve already stuck all kinds of pins in the wall (I pin all the places we’ve been to) so the wall would be VERY hole-y if I moved it. I guess I could cover it up with other things but I also really like the map. First world problems, amiright?
LOL so true
I loved reading about your dream library! You’ve painted a lovely portrait of my mind, and I’m rooting for you to have it all. As of the moment, I just really want to have more bookcases! I have two smaller ones, but as I have piles of books EVERYWHERE, it is clear I need more. I’m also saving up for my reading chair, and gathering prints for one of the long walls in our apartment. Here’s to hoping we both get our dream libraries someday!
Thank you!! YES I hope we do!
When I think of a dream library, I always think of the SHELVES I could have. I never really thought about all the cool bookish decorations I could fill it with… but I totally am now!!! Your plans for your library/reading room sound perfect! Good luck with the house hunting… I’m going to go add more bookish stuff to my Etsy Wishlist 🙂
Haha excellent! 😀
Your dream library looks so cozy *sigh* If I had my own dream library, I would have lots of shelves, so I could keep all my books and my bookish merch there. I’d also love a bean bad/mattress where I could happilly cuddling and reading! 🙂
Sounds awesome! 😀
I’ve been dreaming about my future library for years now, and you and I have so much in common. I also want built-in shelves and a daybed. I’ve also thought about a reading nook because they are just so cute.
I hope that if you do get a house, you show us the process of building your dream library. 🙂
Oh I totally will! 😀
I have built in shelves in my library and I love them. They go floor to ceiling, I was able to customize them the way I wanted too and they have so much more space then the ones from I Target I previously had.
So jealous.
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