apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Only $450? Hrm. I wish my books were that staged and colourful. That's a reasonable price...

Cool looking, but horrible for actual use. Almost as bad as the leaning bookshelf you blogged recently.

That is a great way to "antique" the books you abhor. As a person who can't even doggy-ear a page, it's hard for me to see past those sad sagging spines. Somebody save them!

Just looking at this makes 'my' spine hurt. Love your books, don't use them as decorating props.

Book abuse aside, even with no other clutter in sight, that shelf looks like a jumbled mess. Books arranged standing vertically or stacked on shelves create a nice sense of order, even in an otherwise cluttered room.

personally i think it's gorgeous, and i like the fact that it looks like the books are a little disordered-- makes you want to use them, move them around, read them!

'desperate', not 'design'.

When Good Design Goes Bad.

really interesting looking with the books in. but i'm a bibliophile too, and that must constitute abuse! if it were filled with colorful paperbacks or magazines rather than those delicate old bindings, i think i'd like it.

Does one get that bored that they end up making this and call it a book shelve? :?

not for books, please.

but maybe for wine bottles????

Books look like a jumbled mess on this. As a divider, I think it's kinda cool.

I do not understand people who worship books to the point of not letting them show signs of age or love... unless we are talking about first editions or art books.

And yet you can see that whoever has arranged the books in this shelving has been somewhat careful to do it in a way that protects their spines (sort of). Having said that, I think there's a reason this shelf is displayed with hardcovers only. If you tried to arrange paperbacks like that, their spines would collapse pretty quickly. "Book worship" aside, this shelf is just impractical to me. A good portion of my books are paperbacks, and I want to be able to re-read them. If the spines are hooped, it's not that comfortable a reading experience.

I do love me a mod quasi-hexagonal pattern, though, and I still like these shelves. I could see them in my toddler's room. I'd put picture books on the shelves best suited for holding them, and I'd put toys in the rest. And then he'd pull everything off and stuff everything back in as he sees fit.

I think it could work well as a divider as well. Unfortunately its hard to get a sense of the quality of materials from the pictures. Its some sort of plastic too...

They're made out of some sort of styrofoam-y light plastic, the same thing bike helmets are made out of. I love how they look, but they feel a bit flimsy in real life (a lot like the inside of a helmet).

It is made with "expanded polypropylene"- same material used for the car bumper and motorcycle helmet. It is very light but very strong, can be used indoor or outdoor and 100% recyclable. It wasn't designed specifically to be used as a book case. I've seen some people use it for storing wine bottles, children's toys, CD's, DVD's, records, and even an occasional book or two. For those who are looking for a simple bookcase, I recommend "Billy" from Ikea.

I agree, not really for books. I see something like towels, blankets, stuffed toys, I don't know but something that is soft and will conform to the holes. As a book lover this just hurts. And how would you keep them in good order all crammed in there like that? How would I find a book?