What do the pros do about making a home for books, for themselves and others?
Kenan Heise, who owns the Chicago Historical Bookworks at 831 Main St. in Evanston, says book collecting can even present reason for marital strife.
”I know of one guy who would put the books he`d bought that day by the basement window, and after dinner he went down and pulled the books in.
”Collectors are always claiming they`re going to stop because they`re running out of room,” he says. ”So they build shelves.” Some book lovers just stack them on tables, some along the walls on the floor.
Richar, a top interior designer, says: ”I`ve designed some unusual things for the display of books; they`re almost like shoe racks. In my country house, I have low benches on which I throw a lot of books. I just bought an Arts and Crafts Roycroft library pedestal for my country home. It`s about 66 inches high and 18 inches wide, with several shelves inside. It`s meant for storing books and has the Roycroft emblem etched in the wood.
”For some clients, I have covered the books all the same way, in the same bindings so it looks attractive and neat, instead of seeing all different colors. You can select the color for a certain room.
”I`ve also designed desks and consoles where the surface is glass. There`s a separate spacer underneath the glass, so you still have a working surface, but underneath it, you slide in your more delicate books. I do like books,” Richar says. ”Personally I like books that deal in my field of furnishings. Also cars. I`m nuts about cars. Also art. Any books that relate to making interiors pretty.”
Greg Stratman, another of Chicago`s top designers, says, ”I personally like books everywhere. I`d rather look at the books than the surface of the table. I have a table in the middle of my living room in the city.
”People think you have to keep a book in a niche, but I like them scattered just everywhere. Books add a whole other warmth. I don`t like stacking them into a pile. I have them piled next to my bed. I don`t know what it is about them; there`s a romance to them. You`re not only pleasing the sense of sight but of touch. They add color, they add history. They add a sense of timelessness. They also give visitors an indication of what the owner is like, and I`m all for environments telling what they`re like. I try to encourage that. A lot of clients, when they read a book, they give it away or they put it down in the basement on a steel shelf, because they don`t want to throw them away.
”One thing I do when I go into a library is I go and look at the shelves to see what this person is about, and I think a lot of people do that,”
Stratman says.
Perhaps that is because, as Rhoda Clark says, ”if a person is interested in books, it is like having 200 best friends; you are never bored or have anything you can truly complain about because you have such a joy in life.” –
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