The Whole House Library
“Books are the very best decoration, especially if you read them.” - Rose Tarlow
Books in ever corner. Greenwich, Connecticut.
Mention “personal library,” and a specific aesthetic comes to mind. Our Instagram feeds are full of photos of stunning library rooms resembling something from a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story--mahogany bookcases, a crackling fireplace, and oversized leather armchairs. Or we picture a vast, two-storied space with rolling ladders, long tables, and an ornate ceiling like the Jill Kupin Rose Gallery, also known as the Central Reading Room, at the New York Public Library. And, of course, there are always the more practical among us who imagine a simple office with book-lined walls and a large desk in the center of the room, Zoom-ready at a moment’s notice.
Often more aspirational than practical, these dedicated spaces don’t always make sense for the modern homeowner and book lover. Libraries are no longer a given when designing or buying a home. Open concept plans in particular pose creative design challenges and require a more layered approach. We’ve found that many Foxtail Books clients prefer a decentralized library – with books finding homes on surfaces throughout the house. Rather than sequestered in a single room, they choose to experience their books as part of their daily lives, in the same way they enjoy their art or antique collections. Books, particularly a collection of books, are a very personal thing. Like family photos, they function as both decorative objects and receptacles of memories. We love them for the words they contain and what they signal to others about their owners.
Books within reach for apres-ski lounging. Park City, Utah project.
Many of our clients prefer a decentralized library – with books finding homes on surfaces throughout the house.
Sophisticated and well-informed - books in the lounge. Residential project, Chicago.
In her classic book The Private House, Rose Tarlow wrote, “Books are the very best decoration, especially if you read them.” She devoted a chapter to the subject, and almost all the rooms she featured include books on display. My favorite is a simple rolling cart with four shelves filled with tidy horizontal stacks of oversized books. The caption reads: “A collection of architecture books is framed in a doorway into the garden.” Creating small vignettes combining books with carefully chosen accessories add moments of culture, luxury, and possibility (you’ll never be able to read them all, but one can dream!)
Take, for example, the books we place on our coffee tables. A catalog from an artist’s exhibit in L.A., a Lonely Planet Guide from your vacation in Thailand, the biography of your favorite musician, or a novel by the latest Nobel Laureate reveals something about their owner while potentially sparking conversations with guests.
Cookbooks are another example of a perfect marriage of function and beauty (while also being a highly collectible category). But where you choose to place them matters. Hidden behind cabinet doors or shelved anywhere other than the kitchen, they can often be forgotten when it comes time to prepare a meal. And while cookbooks are the obvious choice of what-goes-were, Christy has also relocated gardening books to a breakfast nook facing the backyard, children’s books to low furniture, and fishing books to a fly-tying office/workshop.
Reading nooks or built-in bunks with a couple of shelves can also be a fun place for pleasure reads. And thoughtfully placing short stories and poetry collections in guest rooms is always appreciated. Charles Dickens would personally choose books for the bedside tables of his overnight visitors.
When Foxtail Books is brought in to organize a client’s existing collection, the idea is often to downsize and get things in order – to rein in rather than spread it throughout the house. But our curated collections are meant to add layers of literature, intellect, and design to the home. Having a room dedicated to books is luxurious, but so is designing an entire house in which every room invites you to sit down, pick up a book and start reading.
Tara Cheesman is a freelance book critic and a National Book Critics Circle member. Her work has appeared in The Los Angeles Review of Books, CrimeReads, Guernica, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Mystery Tribune and other online publications. She received her Bachelors of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.