Design Inspiration: Rainbow Book Displays

I've been absolutely dying over rainbow-ordered bookshelves for a while now. I am a prolific reader and incorrigible collector, and I've never liked the kind of bookshelf displays where there were one or two books and a whole lot of vases or those weird, useless wicker spheres people seem to like so much (??). Yet I recognize that shelves absolutely packed with books have little visual appeal. Enter the organization-by-color phenomenon (yeah, it's everywhere, but it's so awesome, it should be).

How incredible is this bright and airy library by Craft & Creativity on flickr? IKEA shelves and an incredible effort in organization and sorting. What an eye. Oh lord how I love it.

New library, originally uploaded by Craft & Creativity.

This version creates such a different mood with the dark wood and colorful accessories. Love the deep blue walls, too. Just stunning. This is precisely how I would want my library to look (possible in my dreams only, of course- le sigh).

bookshelf spectrum revisited originally uploaded by Chotda aka Santos

This one is more simplistic, and gives off a sort of bachelor-feel with the open shelving instead of bookcases. This would look terrific with inset shelves (the ones with no visible hardware that look like they're floating).

Rainbow Books originally uploaded by Andrew Coulter Enright

If you own a huge number of black and white rather than colored books, here is a way to balance the rainbow with the monochromatic to create a beautifully symmetrical look:

Rainbow of Books originally uploaded by MindOnFire

...And if you don't have enough books to fill the shelves, or prefer the spare, minimalistic look, try coordinating a few spines with other objects in their color family like this lovely display (yeah, I know, I said I didn't like vases in bookcases so much- I make an exception here.) Also, varying vertical and horizontal placement can create visual interest.

Rainbow Order originally uploaded by paperpie

Have you thought about or actually accomplished organizing your books by color? Do you like this look or are you "over it" since "everyone's doing it"? I like to be a little different so it is strange to think about adopting something super-trendy, but sometimes trends stick because they are just plain awesome, so I'm calling this aesthetically pleasing idea wonderful enough to not care less whether everyone else likes it, too.

Thrifty at Home: Selling Your Extra Stuff

We set up, at another blogger's encouragement, an amazon.com used bookselling account. Now our addiction to new discount books and used home reference reading can at least pretend to help pay for itself!

We have no idea if anyone will actually want, find, or buy our books, but it's free to list, so why not give it a shot??

Check out our storefront! (Still under construction):

Dez's Discount Books

(Anything that says not currently available is just brand-new- it'll be up within 45 mins)

We basically just want to de-clutter before we move in the Spring, and to share the love of literature (and, uh, distracting trash now and again) with others, so most titles-- unless rare or old-- are selling for pennies, essentially, (Amazon's commission is taken at the time of sale). The mandatory $3.99 shipping cost stinks but still, buying used is environmentally friendly and also cheaper even with shipping cost figured in (can you believe they're charging $30 for hardcovers these days?). We hope your loved ones wouldn't turn their nose up at something pre-owned. If they do, bop them over the head with it and ask if they know what planet they're on.

Happy book-browsing!

New from Old

Long time no blog!
We realized we were wearing pretty much the same outfits we'd already blogged about, and there was nothing very exciting to share with you...

However, today we are discussing a fabulous book that we found in the reference section of our favorite used bookstore last week (because we refuse to pay full price for books, also!):
New from Old- How to Transform and Customize Your Clothes by Jayne Emerson is about to change our lives. If we get a sewing machine for our birthday, that is...

We have always been obsessed with embellishment and sought out clothes with added sequins, ribbons, sparkle, and trim of any sort... which is easy when bohemian/Indian/gypsy styles are trendy, but not so much when clean lines are in vogue. So what's a girl to do? Start collecting trims and pop-on rhinestones, we think. This book has fantastic projects from simply bedazzling a camisole to making a fabulous handbag out of a thrifted way-too-80s leather skirt! Some of the items are more complicated and probably best for an accomplished seamstress, but others were less than terrifying for a newb. Not only do we plan to use these techniques to enliven our own wardrobe and pull consignment-store finds out of the doldrums, we plan to start a line on Etsy of fabulous upcycled gypsy goth wear... eventually. We always knew we would- our storage unit is filled with garment bags stuffed with silks and satins and velvets we've amassed over many years of being unable to pass up a single-digit-$ deals on gorgeous fabric, even if we'd never wear the item itself.

In the coming weeks we'll be featuring some of the better thrift shops in the Boston area- if you have been to one recently or are able to go and take some pictures and report on what you find, please contact me to do a guest blog spot!!

Lastly, we started a twitter page so please add us if you have one, too!