Refreshing the Library

The beginning of a new year somehow brings out a desire to refresh some old spaces and spruce them up a bit. Our library is on the menu for a bit of a change. This room holds a lot of books and bookcases. One wall has matching bookcases and the opposite one has two mis-matched cases. The end wall has a window that lets in quite a lot of light and the opposite wall has the doorway. Welcome, Friends, as I take you through a library spruce-up.

My Hubby and I are both readers so we have a lot of books and need a lot of shelving. A few years ago we decided to turn one of the extra rooms into a small library to help house our collection. We also have a charging station for all the electronics in this room. Unfortunately, it tends to collect “stuff” so it was time to clean out the extras.

It all started when I found these lovely 100% silk, lined drapes at the Thrift Store last week. They were on sale for $1.50 per panel. Each panel was 54″ X 90″ so the perfect size for the window in the library. That window has a fabric pleated blind and had two sheer white panels covering it.

The rug in the Library is a 100% wool with a soft yellow background with a floral pattern in greens with red accents. You can see it above on the left. The drapes have a soft yellow background with a floral pattern in greens with red accents. The reds are not identical but I think will blend nicely. The rug was from a local consignment shop about seven or eight years ago.

When I looked on-line similar drapes by the same mfg. were $150 – $180 per panel. So a nice find for a total of $3. The rod pocket is 2″ wide so I’m going to use two regular drapery rods and space them a little bit apart for the drapes.

Once the bookcases were moved to the long walls opposite one another it was time to add some gallery shelving. My Hubby makes these and I wanted some that were four feet in length to span the distance between the left hand bookcases and the window. He constructed four shelves and we added them at varying heights on the back wall. They are painted white and made from pine boards from Lowe’s. Each shelf is made from a 1X4, 1X3 and 1X2 inch board. We bought 8 foot boards and the store cut them in half for us for free. So we purchased 2 of each size board in an 8 foot length and ended up with 4 four foot boards In each width. You can see how we made them here:

DIY Apartment Dining Space

After the shelves were up the drapes were hung. It was storming outside so the color is a bit dark but you can see that the drapes and the rug go nicely together.

Next, pictures and books were placed on the gallery shelves and you can see how interesting it looks from across the room. The dark wine leather chairs were positioned in front of the back wall. The last picture is angled to show the bookcases and the wall. I love all the colors from the paintings and the books and the different heights of the display shelves.

Here’s a look at the shelves on the opposite wall with the drapes and chairs in place.

I added a throw to one of the chairs to soften the lines a bit and add some additional texture.

I was really happy with how this room turned out. Removing a table and adding the gallery wall and some great thrifted draperies made a big difference in how it looks. Hope you agree and like the transformation as much as I do.