7 Designer Ways to Display Your Books

There are a few things you should know about me: 1) I’m a major book lover, 2) I refuse to swap my paperbacks for an e-reader, and 3) I live in a 900-square-foot apartment. This means all of my novels do double duty as home decor—and I’m not even kind of mad about it.

After all, there are countless ways to store and style books so that they elevate our interiors, as these seven designer looks demonstrate. Next time I need to shift things around at home (i.e. make room for more books), I’ll be turning to these examples from the WL archives for inspo.

Turn them around

With hidden staircases, checkered floors and his-and-hers office spaces, designer Kelly Deck injected this traditional manor home with a sense of play and whimsy. The books on display in the great room—with their fore-edges turned out—are charmingly mysterious, too. Check out the rest of this West Vancouver home.

Organize them in neat piles on a table

Designer Angela Robinson is an avid collector of books and she’s not afraid to show it. The coffee table in her living room features four neat stacks of them. “Books are something you can collect at any budget, even as a starving student,” she says. “They really make my house feel like a home.” Step inside this cozy Vancouver condo.

Line them up on a windowsill

Don’t have room for a large, built-in bookshelf? Take a cue from this Mount Pleasant condo. Owners Vanessa Stark and Misha Olynyk put some of their fave titles on the windowsill in the office. “We didn’t want to put them out of sight,” explains Stark. “We thought, let’s make it simple and see how we live.” Explore this gorgeously curated home.

Build a really tall stack with them

This tower of novels may look as if it could tumble at any moment, but it’s sturdier than it seems! An invisible standing bookcase helped the team at Ministry of Interiors create this stack. Surrounded by floor-to-ceiling mullioned windows, it contributes to the room’s modern-French feel. See more of this internationally inspired family home.

Complement them with other decorative items

A bookcase isn’t just for books! The shelves in Kate Horsman’s Railtown condo are filled with an eclectic mix of treasures—including a David Bowie candle, an E.T. doll and a vintage mascot head in the form of a peppy chipmunk. Check out the rest of this peaceful-meets-playful space.

Arrange them by colour

Designer Alda Pereira proves that a little bit of color coding can go a long way. The floor-to-ceiling shelf in the dining room (why not?), features little pops of red, blue and yellow, but is otherwise pretty neutral. Keep this approach in mind if you want to try the style without going full rainbow. Peek inside this 1300-square-foot townhouse.

Make them a supporting character

Who said bookcases have to be full? Not Lori Steeves of Simply Home Decorating! She used just a small collection of books—in a single colour—to create a simple and sophisticated look in this Lions Bay home. Instead of the books, it’s the custom shelving from Once A Tree Furniture that shines. See the before and after renovation photos.