Here is the view from the other end. As I said, this is the previous owner's furniture. My current furniture has an eclectic feel, however I'm trying to transition to a more modern feel. I am getting all new furniture and will be doing something with the brick fireplace (think black sheet metal). I have a hard time making decisions, so of course I will be back here asking for help with that.

This post was edited by finallyhome on Sat, May 11, 13 at 20:25

I don't know how you could make THAT room seem closed in....what a beautiful home! Congratulations!

What is the configuration/design of the bookshelves? And if you did them the length of the wall how long would that be?

I'm just wondering what your plans are for the bookshelves - just books or a combination of decorative items (vases, art work, etc) and if it is just shelves or will it also include glass doors, counter shelves, closed doors on the bottom etc.

blfenton - If along the wall, it will be approximately 45' of bookcases. I'm sure they will start out looking like this:

And since I have a hard time getting rid of my books, looking like this in a few years:

I think that wall that is directly across from the fireplace would be the perfect place for bookcases. Visually, it will balance the "heaviness" of the fireplace wall, especially if you are going to make it black. It looks like the floor space along that wall is a hall-type of area so you don't have to worry about furniture blocking it . . . and that area looks plenty wide enough to allow for bookcases and still enough walking room.

what an awesome space! I love the idea of putting the book case down the hall wall. If it makes the whole space look too long with all those horizontal shelves, you could probably break it up by using differing height shelves in several sections rather than a straight run down the hall of shelves all the same height. Could you have at least some of the shelves made adjustable in height? Staggering shelf height would add visual interest, make it look less institutional and would tend to draw the eye up and down rather than straight across and break up the impression of length in the space.

How do you use the ends of that room, e..g one end for dining, the other for sitting? I wonder what would make the most sense in terms of functionality.

A vote for bookcases all along the hallway -- pretty home!

Please post photos when the bookcases are built! :)

flash - I never thought about the fact that the black would make the wall appear heavy. I just like the look. I want to be careful and not overclutter the room. I had a extremely hard time getting rid of a lot of stuff when I moved, and have a lot more. I've got a large number of decorative items I want to keep, so the shelves will contain both books and art.

egbar - That's the type of insight I'm looking for! I can look at several pictures and cannot put my finger on exactly how a look was achieved. It's the little things that make a difference. Now that you've pointed out that staggering the shelves gives a less industrial feel, I can see that.

nosoccermom - The 1st space in the room is being used as the office. The center space is the living area. The last space (with the orange wall paper) is the dining area. Since I'm not a big entertainer and the kitchen has an eat in area, I'm leaning toward a baby grand piano (can't play a lick) for that area or I would like to take up quilting and can picture a quilting frame.

45' of bookcase space - be still my beating heart.

I like photo two better with the staggered vertical divisions rather than photo 1 where they are very linear. Maybe a combination of the two where you have different heights of shelves that run the entire length of the wall but have staggered vertical separation. I would run the entire length of the wall with the bookcase. Post pics when done, please

I'd also think about doing closed cupboards on the bottom with bookshelves above. It would keep the cluttered look down and still give you amazing storage. You could also use the top of the cupboards (counter height) for entertaining, holiday dinner serving space, buffets, cocktail parties, etc.

[Modern Staircase[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-staircase-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_745~s_2105)

or

[Contemporary Hall[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-hallway-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_743~s_2103) by Oakland Design-build Canyon Design Build

I also thought this was a great contemporary look - you could build shallow closets, floor to ceiling (or 6 or 7 ft) every so many feet with the shelves between them.

[Contemporary Hall[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-hallway-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_743~s_2103) by Tel Aviv Interior Designer SK Designers - Shimrit Kaufman

Here is a link that might be useful: [bookshelf idea[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/charlie-barnett-associates-architecture-modern-staircase-san-francisco-phvw-vp~8130)

This post was edited by olychick on Sun, May 12, 13 at 17:05

Since I live with more than 10K books, I vote for bookshelves on both ends, but I expect you might end up with them down the hall, as well. (At least, that's what I have.)

If you are considering painting them, may I suggest a using a dark green, not kelly of course, but a leafy, pine-y, well-stepped-on, green? It's a very restful color to combine with the spines of books, which often have a decided reddish-brownish bias among all the colors possible. It tones down bright whites, as well. And few books are kelly green, so it doesn't clash with blues or greens, either.

And being a dark color it serves to help make the mass of spine colors into a more coherent design feature. I think white (or light grey/white shelves) make the grid-effect more prominent and natural-finished brown shelves play up highly diverse colors of of book covers, making the shelves seem more chaotic. I expect that certain very dark greys (almost black) or deep coal-y navy blues may also work in somewhat the same way as dark green. Whatever the shade, it should be a highly complex color, with plenty of complimentary pigments in it to make it really hang together with all the colors of the books.

My late Mother had a wonderfully sunny sitting room with BM China white walls, red oak strip flooring (w/natural finish) and 40 linear feet of floor-to-ceiling, built-in bookshelves along the back wall. They were painted one of the BM dark greens and l can dig about and come up with the BM color number as I repainted them in the same shade before I sold her house.

If you do paint your shelves with oil paint (preferable to latex which will always have the risk of remaining uncured and attaching itself to the books), please plan on having the shelves cure after painting at least 4 weeks before shelving the books. Even then you might wish to slip a layer of the type of plastic used for covering dust jackets (you can buy it in rolls from library supply places like Demco, it's like the proprietary material in "Brodart" dj covers ) under any particularly valuable books. It's invisible and you will then be absolutely certain that nothing in the paint is damaging the covers as oil paint (and latex, too) takes months to fully out-gas.

Also consider having the shelves, if not the verticals, made with 5/4 lumber in order to handle the weight of the books.

Look forward to seeing your room.

L.

If one end is your office, wouldn't it make sense to have bookcases there? I'd also like the idea of having book sin your dining area. Could you post pictures of the end walls?

I love the idea of the book shelves along the long hallway wall to balance out the brick wall. I would really consider working in covered storage into it as well. It wouldn,t have to be in a row all along the bottom it could be staggered into a design or every so many feet top to bottom.