The Key to Home Library Design

Home library design is something of a difficult subject to approach. On one hand, everyone has a rather set notion of what a private library is supposed to look like. If you are like most people, you probably envision the stately study with dark wood paneling and trophies of hunting expeditions and sagely volumes that are old enough to be your great grandfather. This is a place where rich, aging men sit in smoking jackets, puffing away at pipes while they contemplate whatever deep truths might strike their fancy. This is, most certainly, the generally accepted image of a home library. However, on the other hand, this is not the kind of home library design that most people want to have. And it is no surprise that people want something different, as the stately study concept feels stale and rigid to most people. However, the home library can be so much more!

The key to a successful and lively home library design is to redefine that image in your mind of how a home library should look. If you cannot make yourself think differently about what your library should look like, then you will most assuredly be unable to succeed in making it look like anything other than your preconceived image. So, how do you learn to think about your home library differently? Well, first of all, you must realize that it is simply a room, just like any other. It may have a very different purpose from your average room, but it is still just a room. As such, it is subject to all the rules and tricks of décor that any other room is subject to.

So, how can you apply this fact to your home library design? Simple: approach it from a décor standpoint by using a theme. And, particularly in the case of a library, there are some cultural themes that can work quite well as a source of inspiration in your designs. For instance, if you want to keep a elegant and classical feel to your library without necessarily following all of the preset design rules, you might try basing your design on and old world European theme, such as the Victorian-era Spanish style, or the renaissance French look.

This may seem like a complex sort of a plan, but in practice it is actually fairly simple. All you have to do is keep an open mind and be willing to experiment a bit when you are working out your home library design. Try working a bit further, if the European look does not suit you. Perhaps you might experiment in basing your home library design on an Asian culture, or even break away from the cultural basis altogether any work from an entirely different theme. Any of these options are equally valid, and are open for your experimentation. If, for instance, you have a particular theme that strikes your fancy, then see if you can work it into your designs. As with any decor attempt, though, you may want to line up some of your ideas in sketches or color swatches and such before you actually execute them, to make sure they will work as you intend them to.