My Little Yellow Library

My Little Yellow Library

I've always loved to read and collect books. But I didn't realize i had quite a number already until one day when my sister asked me, "Why don't you start a library?"  Ting!  Now there's an idea!  

I was moving into a new house so I thought, hey why not set up one of the rooms to be a Home Library and dedicate it to my love for reading?   It would house my collection and would have a quiet and well-lighted place perfect for reading!   It took quite a few months to complete, but after it was done i was sooo contented. It's now my favorite room in the entire house :-)

Just to show you how we started, this is the room BEFORE the make-over. From left...

...to right...

...with all our junk and stuff...

...and further right...but you can already see what beautiful large windows it had :-)

Then came the plan. 

In deciding the layout, we had to start with the shelves since they needed to stand against a large empty wall.  There was only 1 wall that fit so we had to start from there.   

Then for the Reading Chair, i wanted it to have ample natural light. The best spot turned out to be in between the two large windows. This also allowed for an ottoman in front of the reading chair.

The room was intended to be a bedroom when it was built so it had a built-in closet that we couldn't do anything with.  So the remaining space was then left for the writing desk.  

Here is a drawing of the resulting lay-out.

Then comes the exciting part, the design!

I wanted it to have a cheerful atmosphere, the kind that can lift up your spirit like a bright clear morning :-)  But I didn't want it to be too jolting, so i said it would be yellow :-)

For the style, I've always had a soft spot for country / french provincial style.  I thought that white would give a good contrast against the yellow walls.

Then for the Reading Chair.  While I was researching for ideas I saw this great Wing Chair which I thought would be perfect for reading! 

This was my resulting mood/idea board:

With my design and lay-out completed I set to work. Since I obviously wouldn't be able to do everything by myself, my wonderful husband (who is, BTW, an interior designer by training) helped me in doing a lot of the work.

First, we had to clear the room of all the stuff!  It was satisfying to see all that clutter go away! :-) 

Then we bought paint at Ace Hardware. The yellow color was the key element to the design so we needed to make sure we got the right shade. At Ace Hardware they have digital paint mixing over there that lets you choose the exact shade you want. This paint is slightly more expensive than the more common paint brands but, according to the interior designer in my husband, with digital paint mixing you can buy exactly the same shade of paint again in case you run out. 

Then we started on the furniture. 

First the Bookshelves, Side Table, and the Writing Desk and Chair. Since I already had a design in mind all we needed was a furniture maker who could construct them using good wood at the best price. We found one, 1903 Furniture, which has a showroom in Market! Market!, and a factory in Pampanga and gave them detailed drawings with measurements. It took quite some time for them to complete the job (around 4 weeks), and we had to drive all the way to Angeles City, Pampanga, while they were being constructed just to check on them. But it was all worth it! Here they are when they were delivered.

The shelves are actually built as four separate units that are placed side by side and nailed to each other and to the wall for safety. As for the drawer and door handles, we found these nice country looking ones at Ace Hardware as well :-)

Then the WING CHAIR. This was a rather tricky one since Wing Chairs are not so common in Manila, plus the specific type I had in the design board made finding it almost an impossibility. We had to scout almost the whole of Metro Manila just looking for the right one. Finally we found a furniture maker in Caloocan, ACR Furniture, that made the perfect one at a very reasonable price, and they could deliver within a week. So we drove up there, made the order and had it delivered!  And here it is!

Then for the accents.  We found the perfect yellow floor lamp at Regalong Pambahay in Megamall, that went with matching cushions and boxes, and voila! 

Completed Library

Now, let me show you around!  Here is a close-up of the reading area.

The clock here is one of my favorite pieces in the room because gives it a nice country touch.  It's from Hallmark which we bought at Subic Duty Free Store. The sheepskin rug was from Our Home at SM Megmall.

Sandwiched between the two large windows is the Wing Chair.  Reading in it floods my book with lots of sunlight without being too hot or glaring because light comes in from the sides. Perfect! Makes me want to curl up in it all day! 

 

Now here is the writing desk area.  

 

The treasure chest we bought at the Pirates of the Caribbean Gift Shop at Euro Disney :-)  The vintage Globe we bought at True Value in Park Square, Makati :-)

To give it a distinctive country look, we decided to go for HANGING SHELVES and installed them above the Wing Chair.  We bought these at Ortigas Home Depot at the 2nd Floor.  Only beech colored ones were available so we still had to spray paint them white to match to rest of the room.
 

We filled the shelves with knick-knacks of sorts. My favorite pieces here are the beautiful little Grand Piano Musical Box (a wedding gift from my Mom), and a bust of Mr. Sherlock Holmes which we bought at the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221b Baker Street in London! :-)   The knight bookends and the birdcage are from Subic and Crossings Dep't Store respectively.

 

Now for the best part of all, the BOOKSHELVES! These are 4 separate shelves, each with glass-covered double doors to protect the books from dust. Each unit has 4 movable shelves and 1 permanent middle shelf plus the bottom layer, giving a total of 6 layers.   I have the two left units for FICTION, and the two right ones for NON-FICTION.  All-in-all these contain approximately 650 books.  Within FICTION and NON-FICTION are sections which are labeled for convenience.

Here is a snap shot of my Classics Section (A-Z). As you can see I love Sherlock Holmes!

And here is a snapshot of my non-fiction section, specifically my Science, and History and Biographies.  A little PULL-OUT shelf that we designed in the middle of each unit provides for a flat surface for putting down books while arranging / fixing them.

 

More non-fiction books - Architecture and Design, one of my favorite subjects :-)

And there you have it, my Little Yellow Home Library!  I hope this inspires anyone and everyone who reads this to collect all your books, find some time in this busy world to curl up and read, and maybe set-up your own Home Library one of these days :-)

The End