Home decorating with books: for your library and the living room

This may be a touchy subject, but there are people who are not at all enamored with the process of reading, but still enjoy the looks of books. One of the most curious approaches I have seen is something that a California company (Book Decor) does with old leather-bound books. They sell them by the foot! In many cases these are books in foreign languages, so you can be absolutely sure that under no circumstances a momentary weakness or lapse of judgment will allow you to be caught cuddling up in an armchair with one of these books.

It is also conceivable that someone, still a great lover of books, understands the value of books in home decoration. There are a few books available on this subject (no "Home library for dummies, sorry!):

Faux books in a home library

Faux Book Box CD / DVD Holder Cabinet

Using faux books is a long-standing tradition in home library decoration. Very often faux book panels are used to cover doors, hidden cabinets and objects that chash in their style with the look of the room (e.g. LCD TVs). There are, believe it or not, manufacturers of faux books. They specialize in creating extremely well-designed panels that feature a variety of different looks.

The beauty of this custom approach to faux books is in the fact that you can fill a "bookcase" with very imaginative titles, often books that don't even exist! The library of the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth has a door covered with such faux books. The titles include "Kant on hypocrisy", "Venus observed", "Plays never acted", "Wolf's life of a lamb", "Endless road" by Wanda Farr, and "Knick knacks" by Paddy Whack. There is deep irony in turning actual fake books into virtual fake works that never were and probably never will be written. If you have any sort of creative strain in you, make sure to use this opportunity to show off your imagination. Just keep in mind that hiding a safe with priceless jewels behind such obviously fake books will not be a good idea.