12 Tips for Better Bookshelves

Great books make a great bookshelf, but there can be more to the story. The designers of this New York City loft gave the classic built-in bookshelf a new plot twist by covering the back with wallpaper.

Design: Anne Maxwell Foster and Suysel dePedro Cunningham

See more of the amazing pattern in this Manhattan apartment.

Punch It Up

Painting a bookshelf is an easy way to add drama. This built-in is coated in Benjamin Moore’s “Silhouette.” Red undertones make the gray super sultry, a powerful contrast to the white fireplace surround and molded-plaster ceiling.

Design: Michael Abrams

Peek inside this reinvented rowhouse.

Beyond the Built-In

Bookshelves don’t have to be bookcases. Étagères lend lots of space to display books, collected pieces, and accessories while keeping a room light and airy.

Design: Nancy Galasso, Diane Karmen, and Thom Bellucci 

Tour all the spaces in the 2014 Hampton Designer Showhouse

Weaving a Story

Grasscloth adds an interesting layer of texture and color inside the shelf cubes of a media center.

Design: Marie Flanigan

Write-Minded

How’s this for a different take on the bookshelf? A patinaed secretary houses favorite titles and some fun accessories that would make Poe proud.

Design: Jen Going

Space Case

Don’t stop at framing a doorway with built-in shelves—run them over the door opening, too. They draw the eye up to gorgeous crown molding and infuse a white wall with a mix of color that’s as interesting as the latest best seller.

Design: Blair Harris

Paper Back

Setting airy shelves against a wall covered in nature-inspired paper gives this room a unique feel. Having avian friends perched nearby is the next best thing to working outside.

Design: Blair Harris

See what’s new in traditional design in the TRADhome digital magazine.

Order, Order

Designer and color pro Celerie Kemble had the bookshelf interiors in this apartment painted green to bring order to the colorful chaos of the books.

Design: Celerie Kemble

Don’t Be a Square

A shape shift in the design of built-in bookcases can give them a whole new mood. Tastemaker Colette van den Thillart put a French spin on this family home, including the library. Knotted white pine walls wear a moody custom tint.

Design: Colette van den Thillart

Walk through the rest of this glam yet comfortable Toronto home.

Supporting Role

Set against linen-white walls, this barely-there bookcase is designed fade away and let the objects and art pieces it holds be the stars.

Design: Joe Parisi and Donna Martin

Mix Things Up

Can’t decide whether to paint or wallpaper behind your shelves? Do both! Here, acrylic-backed fabric wallcovering frames the bed niche while a warm neutral hue pulled from the fabric cozies up the surrounding shelf cubbies.

Design: Heather Dewberry and Will Huff

Fit Your Style

Bookshelves don’t have to be symmetrical. This white oak veneer beauty offers up a variety of shapes and sizes in its design, giving it energy and providing spaces that are just the right fit for a variety of objects from books to art to small statues.

Design: Jennifer McGee

Now that you’re set with ideas for the design of your shelves, how about some tips for arranging the books and all the other stuff you want to put on them? We’ve got you covered.