My current office space at home actually multi-tasks as a walk in closet, yoga studio and bedroom for Javier. Needless to say, things can often get a little chaotic, and the current status is far flung from the calm, orderly space that I've been craving. I've slowly been working my way through the mammoth task that is my magazine collection and have finally achieved the neat rows of treasured favourites all organized in magazine files. What I'm tackling next is my book collection. I'm planning to cover them all with brown and white kraft paper (like Matt Albiani here), and label each. Growing up this was always mandatory at school to keep our books safe and in tact, so I feel it's a lovely way to preserve them, and also create a sense of order and calm to start the day, and work from.
I love the delicate simplicity of calligrapher Mara Zepeda's white script on the brown paper scene here in her house tour on Design Sponge.
(As an aside, I met Mara at a Martha Stewart event last summer. She wrote out my anniversary date as a little memento which I filed in my wedding scrapbook.)
The real inspiration behind my little project was from India Hicks' library. Inspired by her father, legendary designer David Hicks' uniform collection of books covered in red leather, India took on the task of covering the books in her own library as a rainy day project during hurricane season in the Bahamas, taking a softer, natural approach with brown craft paper. While there are no hurricanes to hide from around here, this just might be the perfect project during the terrific snowfall that's headed our way...
{Photos: 1 - Design Sponge seen at Sacramento Street; 2 - Domino magazine via Apartment Therapy, 3 - via Style Court}
11 comments:
They are so cool!!
http://alwaysxbeing.blogspot.com
Love the simplicity of the books!
Funny, since the first thing I do is chuck the shiny book jackets in a shared big box, hidden under the stairs.
I do like the idea of brown bagging my hard cover books.
Cheers!
It is such a great idea to achieve that uniform look on bookshelves. The white script or labels would also be highly effective!
I also remember covering our exercise books at school in brown paper, putting a favourite picture and our names on the front and then covering again in clear plastic.
The books look so pretty in that brown paper cover...
maybe I should give it a try too.
I have too much books that have no cover.
Love this idea.
Very romantic and chic.
Love the calligraphy in that first photo!
Teri - well then this may be a lovely way to get them out of hiding and out on display!
Ann - yes do - then we can compare and see how they turn out!
David - how funny I have exactly the same memory from the beginning of every school term. It was quite an ordeal but I used to have fun sourcing out the pictures (often from old cards or magazines) to go on the front.
Connie - isn't it lovely? you should check out Mara's beautiful work at Neither Snow
oh, wow, i love book covering projects like this! while of course nothing beats having uniformly leather-bound books, brown paper is inexpensive, neutral and will work anywhere! i remember martha stewart once suggested glassine to cover one's books and that actually does give a bit of uniformity too.
I have just stumbled across your blog (via pinterest) and I just adore your site. Lovely, really lovely. You have inspired me to finally sort out my overflowing bookshelves! I am jumping on my bike to go buy a white pen as I write this.