One Of Our Recent Projects- A Nostalgic Home Library

My client is a collector of beautiful old books and many other nostalgic collectibles gathered from a lifetime of family travel. So, in designing the space, I designed this space to function as a library. This would be a place to display many of their books, travel mementos, and family items. My clients loved this idea and have many treasures that they wanted to display in the space. So, I went to work creating the floor plan for the new library.

The original room had a very dated bookshelf with very little storage and poor-quality details. So, in my desire to create a focal point in the space, I designed new custom built-in cabinetry and added an electric fireplace since we found some additional unused space behind the existing bookshelves. This created a beautiful focal point for the room, allowing me to adjust some of the other features.

By re-designing and extending the size of the new built-ins and custom shelving, I used a measurement that made the unevenly spaced windows look more even. Lining an additional wall with bookshelves and a small paneled alcove area allowed me to keep that main traffic walkway area but visually tied this wall into the rest of the space, including the new focal point wall of cabinetry. The shelving on this wall gave us added storage and display space as well as provided a place for my client’s antique chess table.

The floor in the existing space was originally wall-to-wall carpet, but we decided this room needed something much more interesting. We installed this beautiful wood flooring in a herringbone pattern, creating movement and visual interest when stepping down into the room.

We covered the walls with beautiful wallpaper, chosen to add texture and pattern to the room. The wallpaper had a hint of metallic thread woven into it, adding sheen and texture to the walls.

Most of the furniture in the space was furniture that the homeowner already owned. So, we incorporated these pieces into the design of the space. We also added a beautiful and comfortable custom slip-covered chair with custom cushions, which kept the room from looking overly formal and created additional seating. I also designed custom window treatments and custom pillows for the space in complimentary fabrics. We added a beautiful area rug, which defined this small seating area adjacent to the fireplace. We installed recessed lighting, a beautiful chandelier, and table lamps to illuminate the space.

My client now has a room that can be used as a retreat to read by the fire once selecting a book from the beautiful collection. This room has a lot of character, and the mix of old and new furnishings creates a warm, comfortable sense of nostalgia in this new library.

Until Next Time,

Gia