Summer Overhall: The Past, Present, and Future Library!

The library (one of my favorite parts of my house!) is finally done!  Well...at least for now.  I still have several updates planned for this space, but for now the changes so far are a huge improvement.  Let's start at the beginning, though.  Here is what the library looked like when I moved in about a year and a half ago:

Because this room is the first room you walk into from the garage (aka: my main entrance), a lot of stuff started collecting here.  This is what the library looked like a few weeks ago - yikes!

Needless to say, it needed to be cleaned out before we could paint.  So, I started in one night and a few hours later.  (..and yes, that is a Twilight movie poster on the back wall - I'm only slightly embarrassed to admit that!)

Much better.  The library was still a difficult room to paint, though, because I have so, so many books!  We ended up doing half one day and half the next so that we could manage all the books without having to lug them all over the house.  Here are some of the "in progress" pictures we managed to snap in the chaos of those days:

Then, after our marathon painting session (we were soo tired of the gray color by the time we started painting this area!!), we took a break to run out and grab a new white book case.  As you can see by the stacks in the picture above...I can always use more shelves! Now I have 5 five-shelf white book cases and 4 of the four shelf built-ins, which means you can legitimately be surrounded by books down there now! Here are a few pictures of the library as it is now - all painted, organized and with the new bookcase:

 

Very pleased with the progress made so far in the library, but I still have a ton of ideas for updating this space.  And so begins the list...

1) The concrete floors. 

I haven't quite decided what I want.  Do I continue with the hardwood floors like the rest of the house?  Do I paint the floors a like-able color, maybe with some cute designs?  Do I cover the ugly floor with a giant rug?  Not sure.  Yet!  But the floors are at the top of the to-change list.

2)  The furniture.

My parents were nice enough to let me have the sofa and brown chairs when I moved in so that I wouldn't have to sit in the floor (although I do think they were just wanting to get rid of these pieces so that it freed up space in their house - I still appreciate it!).  The coffee table was a quick purchase before moving into my first apartment my sophomore year at college.  

These pieces have been so useful so far (and continue to be used right now!), but I hope to swap them in the future.  I'm wanting to get a giant, comfy reading chair and chaise.  I would also like to get a new coffee table, but I may just end up painting the one I have now.  These updates will happen eventually and if I somehow money starts growing on trees... (*fingers crossed*), I'd love to get all new floor-to-ceiling bookcases to make better use of the space above my current bookcases.

3) Art work.

As you can see, bookcases and windows take up most of the wall space in this room, but I'm still looking for some library-ish art to work into the room.  Right now the only thing on the walls (besides books!) is this READ poster - which I absolutely love:

Although I framed it quickly to prevent it from getting funky, I have yet to actually hang it up on the wall.  Right now it is just propped up on the window-level shelf.  Eventually it will make it up on the wall :)

Next, I recently found this so so neat (but expensive -yikes!) idea for art that would be outstanding in the library!  Obviously I tend to collect books in general, but I collect two titles in particular. 

I started collecting any decent and interesting copy of A Tale Of Two Cities (Charles Dickens) or Pride & Prejudice (Jane Austen) that I find - and the older the better!  Which leads me to the neat idea.  Today while (procrastinating) I found this on Pinterest.

The full book printed out on a poster around cute little silhouettes.  Seriously?  This was too good to be true.  So I Googled.  There is a company called Spineless Classics that offers posters of various famous novels.  Each poster is a legible, full-text "spineless" version with a recognizable image "cut out" of the text.  Why am I just now hearing about these?  Wow.  And, believe it or not, it gets better! :)

They also have both of the titles I collect!!

How amazing would these look behind my collections of each book?!  It could be mind-bottling..."You know, when things are so crazy it gets your thoughts all trapped, like in a bottle?" (Anyone? Name that movie!)

Anyway, it's something to consider for the future and dream about now.  I know.  What a nerd-dreaming about books printed as posters for their person library...but this librarian wanna-be can't help herself!  And rationalize with this: There are many worse addictions than books! :)