Bibliostyle

INTRODUCTION

I have always been most interested in the question of what makes a house a home. What are the elements that move a house beyond its physical structure and provide the warmth that we all crave? In my fifteen years as a designer, I ve come to understand that the answer is simple: It is about surrounding ourselves with things we love.

While exploring homes around the world for my first book, Surf Shack, I came to the conclusion that if you start with your passions, beauty will follow. And in this case, the beauty comes from the owners love of books.

Books are beautiful objects in their own right their bindings and covers and the space they fill on shelves or stacked on coffee tables in colorful piles add balance and texture to any room. And just like any other part of a home, books require maintenance: They need to be dusted, categorized, rearranged, and maintained. Our relationship with them is dynamic and ever changing.

But our connection to them goes beyond the material. In each house we visited, the libraries were the heart of the home, meaningful to the collectors lives. In this book, we tried to capture what they brought to the home the life and spirit books added. Some subjects have working libraries they constantly reference; others fill their shelves with the potential pleasures of the unread. When we visited the homes, many people could find favorite books almost by osmosis, using systems known only to themselves.

In choosing our subjects, we were not merely interested in the beautiful and perfectly curated rooms, the most extensive collections, or those shelves filled only with rare first editions although there s plenty of beauty on display. This book is not about unattainable libraries, any more than it is about perfectly decorated homes. Rather, it s about the power of books to tell stories, in both the literal and figurative sense. As we found repeatedly, surrounding yourself with books you love tells the story of your

Nina Freudenberger

A look at some of the best book-filled interiors around the world . . . we couldn t help taking a little personal inspiration from the tome ourselves.   Architectural Digest

Any book that combines our love for home decor with our love for books is a surefire winner. Bibliostyle shows off the real at-home libraries of home owners around the world, including writer Emma Straub and novelist Larry McMurtry. Real Simple

Nina s latest foray into the investigation of gorgeous interiors proves both beautiful and full of substance. As a designer, researcher, and writer, there is nothing I love more than a juicy library. This book took me into passionately personal places, spaces, and collections and made me not only want to decorate but also grab a great book. In this digital age, the analog library is not only truly beautiful but has enduring importance. Christiane Lemieux, founder and CEO of The Inside and author of The Finer Things and Undecorate 
 
In this Instagram age there are few books that are visually juicy and engaging to get me off the couch, but Bibliostyle succeeds in a surprising and super fresh way. Here is a book that focuses on books and libraries, but communicates something so intimate and ineffable about the home that you can t stop turning the pages. This is the most perfect coffee-table book for this new age. Maxwell Ryan, CEO and founder of Apartment Therapy Media and author of Apartment Therapy
 
Nina Freudenberger s first book Surf Shack was and is one of my all-time favorite design books, so I couldn t be more thrilled with her new book Bibliostyle. As an ardent lover of books, and certainly collecting them, I found countless inspiration in the pages of Bibliostyle on beautiful built-in bookcases and designing and displaying book collections as art and decor accents. Bravo on another inspiring book!