Decorating with Books-Literally!

Of course.

You can buy books by the foot through Half Price Books as well.

I actually think that's ludicrous.

I decorate with them but I have enough of my own to do it.

interior designers staging homes for sale are a part of the target market.  

🙋🏻Pretentious twit here... I have bought antique books just to decorate based on color. I spent far less than that link though. I wanted a small rainbow of vintage books for a shelf in my dining room cabinet. I bought them off Etsy and found a set with a few interesting titles (like one about a farmer and DH farms for example) which was also fun. It is rare that I buy a (non-kid) book in print these days, and even if I did they aren’t as visually interesting to me as the old ones.

Instagramers for money I'm just realizing. I've seen way too many perfect bookshelves. How come all your books are about the same size in the same shade? How do you have get a rainbow book shelf? None of my books are that colourful to make an ombre of 200 books in gorgeous shades like that.

I'm in this club.  
I guess I could arrange them by color or something, but I'd rather be able to find them.  

And can we talk about those freaks who think books go spine in?  How the heck do they ever find a book?   They don't, but it doesn't matter because those books are just for looks too.

I decorate with books, but not exactly the same way. I have them on shelves face out and themed. I have a collection of fairy tales on a ledge face out with the quote attributed to Einstein: If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.

I have another ledge filled with poetry books, again facing out. I have them stacked on my piano and hall table. I have lots of vintage children's books that I display. I also have over 25 copies of "The Night Before Christmas" by different illustrators that I display at Christmas.

Julie

Spine out books would literally drive me up the wall.. lol.. but to each their own...

I read an author that I have almost every single one of her books.. they are all colored in a rainbow of colors.. SOOOO sometimes I will arrange by color.. like a rainbow, then other times I will arrange by size... depends on my mood... now I need another way of arranging.. but I have to see the spine!!! Oh sometimes I will stack them.. some laying down and some upright... I love rearranging them.

    This makes sense to me. Or for staging a room for an ad. People do have their own tastes and I understand the appeal of the look of books in decorating. After all, "a room without books is like a body without a soul"-Cicero. I love that quote. 

To me being a book lover and an avid reader I understand what you mean OP. It would never occur to me to decorate with books. Books are such an integral part of me and fill my home. I have bookcases in my bedroom, the living room, the kitchenette area, the den, my office, DH's bedroom and DS's room. Putting them in color order so they look pretty? That wouldn't work at all for me! I like having them in an order I can find them in because there are so many-genre order works so much better for me, then by author's name-not alphabetically, just grouped together. All Stephen King books together, all Diana Galbaldon books together and so on. One of these days I'll reorganize them all and get them in alphabetical order. And I keep adding more. It's like an addiction I don't want to be cured of.  

As far as decoration goes to me they add such warmth and life to the room I am in because I adore them. They are decoration just because they are books. When I looked at the photos of what they had at the site that was linked I caught myself not looking at the overall impression the colored books made on the shelf, but trying to read the titles. That's a book lover for you. 

and pretentious!

ETA: I see the pretentiousness has been covered!!!

I am okay with buying books because . you like the way they look, but buying by the yard purely for decoration seems a bit OTT

I knew that pubs buy books by the yard for decoration purposes, but I didn't realise that home-owners did it too. I really struggle going to these pubs because always at some point during a dreary conversation about somebody's car or dogs, my eyes are drawn to the books. I sit there wishing I could just take one down and disappear into it, leaving all the tiresome small-talk behind.

Spine-in? I never saw that in my life! I think that would be like wall-papering with the pattern stuck to the wall. But then all my bottles, packets and jars in the kitchen and bathroom are always put back with their labels on display. Always. Yeah... I know...

My mom read constantly when I was growing up. She would buy no less than 5 books a week. I would say she became a book hoarder. I’ve inherited her love for books but I only keep the ones that I would think I would read again. The others I give away to my mom or friends so they can enjoy them. The one that are the most sacred are the antique books that I do decorate with. It began when my husband and I bought our first house. It was over 100 years old and I had big dream of decorating it with antiques but being in our early 20s we didn’t have the money. I would go to antique shops and drool over the things I couldn’t afford but I could always afford a book. I took that book and displayed it on a shelf. Now antique books are all over the house. I even made a knife holder with antique books. In the formal rooms I will have antique books opened on a table with a pair of antique glasses as if someone from 100 years ago was just there reading. It might be weird but it makes me happy.