question for bookish people

[flea]

If money were no object, and in fact aesthetics was the major object, what sort of bookcases would you have in your house? Ideally, give me a link where I can drool over pictures, but feel free to describe your custom-built ones (real or imaginary).

See, I'm a believer in furniture porn, but I rarely see bookcases I admire. And I own almost exclusively cheap melamine and cheap foldable wood ones, of course. Thomas Moser uses gorgeous wood, but their styling is very, um, practical. It is not to drool, IMO. (http://www.thomasmoser.com/residential/res.products.browse.cat.php?cat_id=13). Levenger is not doing much for me, either. Whatcha got?

Me, I think I'd want built-ins, mostly.

Comments

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Henry. Higgins'. Library.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Also Skywalker Ranch library">

[calligrafiti.livejournal.com]

My dream bookcases are floor to ceiling built-ins. Did you see My Fair Lady with Rex Harrison? Remember the library? Yep, those bookcases. I doubt I'll ever get bookcases that require a ladder on a track to access, more's the pity.

[fufaraw]

Floor to ceiling, lighted, glass-front (less dusting! better for the books!), probably some blondish wood with a pale, low-shine finish, no crevices or curlicues to catch dust, with infinitely adjustable shelves, and *only* deep enough for single-shelving.

Yes, deep, fixed-shelf bookcases are what I live with, and the resultant double- and triple-shelving. Hate. Hate.it. Never can find anything, and have, as a result, bought double, even on occasion, triple copies of things.

As in, I *still* can't find my copy of The Handmaid's Tale.

[veejane.livejournal.com]

Okay, wait, Thos. Moser bookcases are $3 and 4 THOUSAND dollars? What are they made of, human tongues?

I want the adjustability and practicality of IKEA, without the ugly sameness and plastic-lookingness of IKEA. Actually, right now what I want is bookcases with tops, so that I actually have 4 shelves if I use the top as an extra shelf.

In my perfect universe, all of my study-room furniture is red oak.

[flyingtapes.livejournal.com]

mission-style built-ins spanning the entire length of the wall from the floor to the ceiling in a beautiful hardwood with a dark stain.

[zmayhem.livejournal.com]

I've been fantasizing about a bedroom-library ever since I read John Irving's The Water-Method Man at the tail end of high school; the title character's unbelievably cool girlfriend has a bedroom that consists of a walk-in closet for all her clothing, a low platform bed, and built-in bookshelves on all four walls, so when she lies in bed she's completely surrounded by books (he didn't say, but I imagine she put paperbacks on the shelves right over her head and the OED and Riverside Shakespeare across the room, well out of tumbling range). The shelves went up to about 2 feet from the ceiling, and the space from there to the ceiling was all built-in aquaria. Floor to almost-ceiling books, and then shimmery otherworldly underwater light and darting shapes and the white noise of the filters. No doubt impractical as hell, but utterly my dream library.

[dxmachina.livejournal.com]

If I was doing built-ins, I'd start with hardwood-faced plywood (cheaper and not as saggy as the real deal), with a hardwood face frame, and hardwood facings on the shelves, maybe with a nice bead detail.

Oh, wait. I did that.

I used maple because I prefer it to oak, and I happened across some maple-faced plywood (not a usual item) at the Depot. Otherwise I would've used birch. All told, counting wood, hardward, stain, and varnish, they cost about $400 for the four of them. Doesn't count the tools, although the really expensive tools are really only needed for the facings and face frame. If you used iron on veneer for the edges of the plywood, you could build them with a circular saw and a drill.

[dxmachina.livejournal.com]

And I'm with everyone else on Henry Higgins library if money was no object, complete with circular staircase.

[minim_calibre]

Count me in on the Henry Higgins library.

Sigh.

[makaidiver.livejournal.com]

I got a googlewhack trying to give you an answer!
term: carpenter novato "sally of the sawdust "

It would be custom bookshelves built by the carpentry/cabinetmaker shop called Sally of the Sawdust. They are a little more expensive than bought shelves, and of the best quality. I would get built-ins. (I'm contemplating now having John do a new fireplace mantle for me, plus built-in shelves, plus a computer desk. Course, the way I move on projects, this could take a few years just to DECIDE on it.)

[makaidiver.livejournal.com]

I got a googlewhack trying to give you an answer!
term: carpenter novato "sally of the sawdust "

It would be custom bookshelves built by the carpentry/cabinetmaker shop called Sally of the Sawdust. They are a little more expensive than bought shelves, and of the best quality. I would get built-ins. (I'm contemplating now having John do a new fireplace mantle for me, plus built-in shelves, plus a computer desk. Course, the way I move on projects, this could take a few years just to DECIDE on it.)

Jonquil reminded me of beautiful libraries on which to model one's dream library. So, also:
http://library.stanford.edu/depts/miller/about/floor_plan.html
It's drop dead gorgeous, and right on the ocean. Let's see if I can find a photo.
http://www-marine.stanford.edu/HMSweb/pictures.html
and
http://www-marine.stanford.edu/HMSweb/images/library.jpg

Oh! and Reno, NV has a *beautiful* library. Hmm. I'm remembering the stream running down the center of it, and the open airy lovelyness of it, but am not sure this is the actual plan for it. Also, can't find photos. Ah well.
http://www.library.unlv.edu/arch/aia/awa2001/sparrecc.html