Lifestyle Book Reviews

Book Review: Books Do Furnish a Room

By Sandy Amazeen Apr 14, 2010, 1:01 GMT

Whether heaped in untidy piles, artfully stacked along a wall or tastefully arranged on custom-built shelves, books can define and warm a room while saying a great deal about the occupants. Geddes-Brown’s newest work is a lavishly illustrated celebration of books and how to use them to their best advantage as elements of interior design. The first two chapters explore how to utilize books in living spaces and work environments, the last two cover designing for books and making the most of books in places without adequate shelving.

This showcases institutions like the stately formal library at Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire, England with its well ordered rows of similarly colored bindings serving as a backdrop for the elegant furnishings and dramatic ceiling as well as small private settings such as Richard Howard’s New York apartment, filled floor to ceiling with books, everything else taking a secondary role. Chock a block full of inspiration and ideas like wrapping the bindings in colored paper and creating stylish stacks, readers will find plenty of ways to fit books into their decorating scheme. A feast for bibliophiles and interior decorators alike and proof that with all your stacks of books around the house, you’re not disorganized, you’re trendy!