Regardless of whether you have a designer’s eye, there’s something—dare I say—sexy about a genius bookshelf. It’s why we drool over book towers, decorating with books and celebrity bookshelves, and why we get so excited to pick our favorite covers every year. Visually, books are yummy.
That’s why Bookshelf by Alex Johnson is great. With 305 color illustrations, it celebrates the bookshelf as more than just storage—it’s “modern art, engineering experiments, and . . . status symbols.”
Some of the shelves are way out of the box, some are totally DIY-able, and all should be considered nothing short of art. What now, e-books?
Check out a few of my favorites below. The bear shelves (named Joe and Joe Junior!) on the left are by designer Benoit Vonvers and the cows are by designer Dennys Tormen:
TO ENTER: Comment on this post and describe the coolest bookshelf or book display you’ve ever seen.
CONTEST DETAILS: One winner will be chosen by random.org from among entries received by 5 pm CST on Friday, February 24. The winner will receive a copy of Bookshelf. Prize must be shipped to a North American address. Good luck!
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ETA: Congratulations to our winner, Andrea! She loves “hidden door” bookshelves and would love a bed made of bookshelves.
Thank you to all who entered! Contest is now closed.
There’s a great bookshelf built into stairs from a design group in London that is modern looking and a space saver. Great idea!
My favorite has to be the Christmas tree made out of books. I kind of want to try doing my own this year instead of having an actual tree.
I have to say that the ones above of the animals are the coolest!! I have never seen them before and they are great!!
I have seen bookshelves made out of gutters for kids’ rooms — mount them on the wall to display picture books. Great for showing off picture books and making sure forgotten books get a chance to shine.
I also the Christmas tree made from books, very cool
THIS WOULD BE A FANTASTIC WIN SO COOL
I love the United States map bookshelf…How awesome for a school library! I would shelf books about that state in the state cubby hole. http://www.likecool.com/United_States_BookShelf–Store–Home.html
I have been attracted to the cute little metal hinges that make it look like your books are floating on air. Then again, just saw some pics of a friends house (that was selling for millions) and the library, with the wall to wall book shelves, deep mahogany woodwork, filled to the brim… gave me a little quiver as well. LOVE to see different ideas for them all!
Love bookshelves that look like stairs !
I’m pretty partial to my own bookshelves– hand-made into the wall to create my own home library. However a few weeks ago I saw some Tetris shelves that were soo cool.
Love the cow shelf!
Bookshelves that are unique and appealing are the ones that are shaped like stairs.
My favorite was the use of an old wooden ladder, mounted on the wall and books lined up. Granted, I love anything that displays books.. they could be setting on the floor and it would be perfect, LOL.
I love this post…always looking for new ideas!
Awesome Win!!! The coolest bookshelves would have to be full of great books that you reread and then find more to add to the collection.
Not necessarily the coolest – but everyone must have great memories of college cement blocks and planks housing their first book collection.
I love the bear animal bookshelf like the one above. I’ve always thought that those are so great! Thanks for the chance, Athena.
Those animal bookshelves are pretty neat but I need something that will fit in my house which the Traliccio Invisible Bookshelf would easily do!
Wow i love the cow and bear bookshelves..very cool! Also have seen a train shaped bookshelf , very fun
My favorite is an entire wall of bookshelves filled with colorful books.
Wow! I think the coolest ones I have ever seen are in our own Library ! Brand new, and kin dof non descript-but seeing our new ibarary being built was awesome!
My 7X4 cherry bookcases are constantly full to the point of spilling over–onto tables, the stairs, the floor. The new modern inventive shelves would be a great addition to the house, and I love the idea of books and shelves as design elements.
Love the “hidden door” bookshelves, myself. And, if I could find one, a bed made of bookshelves!
My favorite bookshelves are my own, filled with books that I love, but the most *creative* bookshelves I’ve ever seen are some of these — http://www.buzzfeed.com/melismashable/20-insanely-creative-bookshelves, especially the sculpture-shelf of the word “READ”. SO cool!
These are SO COOL!
My favorite would have to be the BIBLIOCHAISE BY ALISÉE MATTA AND GIOVANNI GENNARI. I love the idea of a chair that is also a bookshelf.
Definitely the staircase made out of books!
Love the animal bookshelves above! Has to be the most unique I’ve seen so far.
The coolest bookshelf I’ve ever seen was surrounding a bed, so that the sleeper/reader had to crawl inside like a cave. The bed was indented in the bookshelf. Love!
Ikea has a new bright red bookshelf that I’d like to see in my house!
Love the Ring Bookshelf in the first photo of this Buzzfeed roundup of shelves. I’d need quite a few of these, but if you can walk inside, that could be quite the workout!
Vincent Leman has designed some delightful Seuss-looking bookcases http://www.artfulhome.com/servlet/Guild/EArtist?id=7330.
Just what I need is the most unusual bookshelf for my many unusual books!
I recently saw an old ladder cut down middle and used as book shelf on 2 adjacent walls! very unique and creative!
This is by far my favorite book display:
http://argentinastravel.com/268/el-ateneo-in-buenos-aires-a-bookstore-to-end-all-bookstores/
My friends tease me because there are books everywhere in my house and bookshelves in every room, including the bathrooms! One can never have too many books and places to store & display them.
I saw a bookshelf once in a magazine that looked like a wave and the shelves were crooked. It was sort of an optical illusion. Something you might expect Jack Skellington to own. I want one just like that…in black!
I am partial to the bookshelf my father lovingly made for me when I was a kid. He made a built-into-the-wall bookshelf next to a window seat in my childhood bedroom so I could read in front of the natural sunlight from the window.
These are very cool. The best bookshelves that I see everyday are the ones in my children’s rooms that are filled with so many books that a few of the shelves are sagging from all the weight. My oldest son had so many books that I ended up putting a steel/metal set of shelves in his room – like what you would see in a garage : ) Can never have enough books in this house.
My favorite bookshelves are the milk crates that I used during college and beyond. They are taken from the grocery store my father ran until the late 80′s. I still have them and use them for storage of other things. Both the independent grocery store and small dairies are gone, but those crates survive!
Thanks to pinterest, it’s not possible for me to narrow down “the” coolest, but some of my favs are probably in this book, since I love the arsty ones. Right now, I’m in love with a folded fabric one that goes on curtain rods and hangs in little boys rooms — all about passing on my love of reading right now!
Great contest!
The coolest bookshelf I’ve “never” seen…In the house I will buy some day! I will finally get to unload all the boxes of books my friends and family are tired of moving from place to place and I can throw the boxes away. There will be bookshelves in the kitchen for my cookbooks, in the livingroom and in every bedroom. Soon and very soon…
I’m still lusting over a bookshelf I saw online years ago. It was made out of black pieces in the shape of punctuation marks.
My favourite bookshelf right now is one belonging to George Lucas. There is a posting on flavorwire.com that has a collection of photos of some really great and unique bookshelves. Here is the link:
.http://flavorwire.com/261320/20-beautiful-private-and-personal-libraries
I love this shelf, pretty cool. Pinterest has really interesting shelf ideas. I really like the one that is the whole wall from top to bottom and even has a window for some light.
My favorite bookshelves are in my dining room. We designed shelves that were 8 across and 8 up and down that go all the way from the floor to the ceiling in honor of our 8th anniversary so we could clean out all the books sitting in our basement and stay married!
I think the bears are the coolest bookshelves I’ve seen! I’d be happy with wall-to-wall books!
I know I would say this since I wrote the book, but if you like books and bookshelves, I do think you’ll really enjoy this. I certainly had a great time putting it together and the designers who contributed their ingenious constructions were all a pleasure to work with.
The coolest bookshelf I ever saw was a photo on Tumblr – it was built into an unused fireplace!
This book about book shelves would fascinate any voracious reader such as myself. I do have a bed headboard/bookshelf which I won’t part with even though it is secondhand and I can afford a new bed after almost 50 years of marriage. All I have to do to select a book for bedtime reading is reach up. However, I saw a free-standing, rotating bookshelf that I love, on a favorite cozy author’s Facebook page. She found it in a secondhand shop, or antique store, so there is little chance of finding a new one. It is only two shelves high, perfect for her reference books. It could double as an end table.
You can beat a whole wall of bookshelves, and room divider shelves are nifty too.
*can’t!
Cinder blocks and boards – it’s all about the books for me. Don’t need to make them look cute, but cute can be fun to read.
I am hoping to make a tree shaped shelf for my spare bedroom, but I’m open to being swayed by a great looking book!
I will have to say that I like any bookshelves, from my crowded ones to the library shelves that I used to stock.
A local public library in my area has a very cool train bookcase, however, the pictures of the bookcases on this site are incredibly cool!
LOVE all the ideas! I currently do not have a bookcase. Treasured book are kept up high, but board books are kept on the lowest shelf for my 9 month old baby girl. We make twice weekly trips to the library for our treasure hunt for used children’s books. I hope to someday have a dreamy window seat for my wee Katherine. So that she may enjoy the gift of reading as much as I do.
We’ve had plenty of coffee table books, OF COURSE we need a bookcase book! Brilliant and beautiful pictures. Perfect for the booklover who has everything.
We didn’t have a Christmas tree the first year I was at the Perquimans County Library, so we made a tree out of books. The Grinch and his lady were sitting on the books and we had little balls around on the books, little packages under the tree and an angel that changed color. That’s my favorite so far.
It’s hard to describe without seeing the picture, but I came across a shot of books stacked literally to the ceiling of this gigantic space-it would be pretty impossible to get a book out from that stack, but it was amazing to look at!
I love any shelf that contains books but my favorite “shelf” is huge letters spelling “READ” mounted on the wall. The books are stacked inside the letters.
Those Bear Shelves are pretty unique
I’ve seen a few book “trees” that are clever. Another way to display books is to make shelves in a small closet. (This is a great idea if you have limited space for bookshelves.) There are also a lot of clever ways to make bookends–but that might be a subject for another post and contest.
My simple yet elegant 5-shelf Brazilian pine bookcase is the coolest bookcase I’ve ever seen because it contains books I love!
I’m obsessed with workspaces & libraries so I’m constantly seeking out study spaces… have a Pinterest board to that effect & gobs of cutsheets ripped from magazines. It’s a wonderfully fulfilling pursuit! Coolest bookcase I’ve ever seen, tho? Hmmm, that’s tough cuz I love ‘em, love ‘em, love ‘em! OK, got it: Thomas Jefferson’s Collection @ the Library of Congress! That was… just… AMAZING.
The coolest bookshelf I’ve ever seen was a circular bookshelf in the ceiling.
The book looks like a lot of fun (and so were these comments!!). I think my new favorite is that hot pink cow
I really like the organic shapes–trees, circular, even the lounge chairs made from books! Thanks for a fun contest!!
For me, the coolest bookshelf would line an entire room – all the way to the ceiling, with a rolling ladder for access. It wouldn’t necessarily have to be a large room and, of course, it would be filled with books that I love and quite a few that I’ve always wanted to read. It would have a couple of comfy chairs, good reading lights and no clocks!
ohhh that was always a dream of mine as well.
I must say the one you are giving away is really the coolest ever. I so need another bookcase right now. I do like the christmas tree one, but not sure if you could call it a bookcase since I don’t know how you would get at the books in the middle or on the bottom. It would be cool to see a Jenga style bookcase.
I have seen cool bookcases built around door frames.
My favorite is the one painted green with branches to look like a tree. Someday I will convince my dad to make that for me!
Number 6 and number 19 here…
http://www.buzzfeed.com/melismashable/20-insanely-creative-bookshelves
THE BOOK SHELVES ARE ALL UNIQUE AND SERVE THEIR PURPOSE…A GREAT FONDNESS FOR READING AND OF COURSE DISPLAY I WOULD BE PLEASED TO HAVE ANYONE BUT THE STAIRWAY IS MY FIRST CHOICE. THANK YOU…
we have to save all our books,so we have shelves everywhere,my tool&woodworking are in the garage with the best nooks,out of way of vehicles,but where you can see and find easily,I Love all book cases and books.
My fave is the stairs bookcases ,we’re gonna do a room in basement for crafts,reading and whatever,has a nice fireplace and this would be such an add on to helping it …
I like seating that is turned into shelves. I saw an interesting chair on the web that had built in bookshelves. It was very cool.
Growing up, the headboard of my bed was a bookcase, plus one whole wall in my bedroom was a combination of bookshelves and glass enclosed cabinets to keep my treasures. After I married and we bought a house, my husband and my Dad removed all those bookshelves and cabinets and reassembled them in two bedrooms in our new house for our kids to use. They are still, almost 50 years later, crammed with books, but once again, just MY books!
Since I’m a huge Christmas lover, I adore the Christmas trees that people make out of books. I plan to have one or two on display myself this Christmas.
My favorite bookshelf is the one my pen pal and her husband made for me – a great bedside book table!
I would like one of those old-fashioned book shelves with the rolling ladder so you could have your books up to the ceiling! I never have enough space!
The best bookshelves I come accross are usually for the kiddos. One I saw that I still really want is one made out of skateboards.
Bookshelf shaped like a tree, with the branches holding the books. How cool would it be to have that hanging on the wall instead a headboard? You could pretend you were laying in the grass, reading a book, with your next book within easy reach!
These books selves are unbelivable. They are a piece of artwork with a function also. What a wonderful way to display books for kids and adults. I would be so proud to have this in my house.
I would love to have the headboard on my bed be bookshelving – what a great way to display my books, use what is usually wasted space, and yet at the same time have the book I am reading be within my reach!
My favorite bookshelf is one that has been in the family for years.
I like bookshelf that have odd shapes, I really like the cow shape bookshelfs.
I have seen so many cool ones, but my current favorite is the one that looks like a stack of upside-down brightly-colored teacups. Those are very fun and striking.
I saw a link from a book website awhile back that showed bookshelves that also are stairs. Fascinating.
The coolest bookshelves I’ve ever seen included open spaces on the bottom for their dog’s beds built in. What a great idea….it allows for a library plus it keeps the dogs off the floor leaving more room to move about.
The coolest bookshelves that make me totally envious are those that line an entire wall, floor to ceiling with a track ladder to access every volume. Nothing better…especially for those who like me-are vertically challenged.