If Bookcases Had a Best-Seller List, These Would Top It

Eight options to show off your collection.

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Libraries have a tendency to be serious; dark, wood-paneled walls, strict cataloging systems, and a shushing staff are a recipe for stiff and severe vibes. Books, though, are anything but. Lighthearted beach reads, enlightening nonfiction, and image-packed coffee-table tomes are endless sources of inspiration and pure joy. So why shouldn’t our libraries—whether whole rooms or a corner—reflect that?

Your Sally Rooney novels or Pierre Yovanovitch anthologies belong on baby blue shelves. Your treasured copies of Agatha Christie and George Orwell should live in a purple piece with bright yellow ledges. Yes, your collection deserves better, and these colorful options are up to the task.

If sci-fi is your genre of choice…

Tales of faraway galaxies will feel right at home in this futuristic purple design by Italian studio Chapel Petrassi.

If you’re all about romance novels…

Give your favorite love stories a charming backdrop with this bubblegum pink bookcase.

If you’re a thrill seeker…

Are your favorite titles Into the Wild and Between a Rock and a Hard Place? Display them in this nature-inspired forest green piece.

If you can’t say no to an art book…

Part bookcase and part pedestal, this shelving unit is perfect for highlighting your most transportive coffee-table volumes.

If books in your house are stashed alongside Legos…

Kids can easily grab their toys (and bedtime stories!) from this low storage piece.

If your collection consists mostly of cookbooks…

Red is a color known to spark the appetite, so stash your favorite recipes on this crimson shelf.

If the whole bookstore is your oyster…

This quirky storage piece has a bit of everything: fun zigzag shapes, an array of color, and enough shelves to display a varied assortment of paperbacks.

If you’re a sucker for beach reads…

This powder blue unit will remind you of the ocean, even when you’re just kicking back with a best-seller in your living room armchair.

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Gabrielle Savoie

Writer/Editor

Gabrielle is most often found digging through 1stdibs in search of Tobia Scarpa sofas, hunting down the newest cool hotels, or singing the praises of Art Nouveau. She spends an inordinate amount of time looking at real estate floor plans and listening to podcasts. In her free time, you’ll likely find her bouncing on a trampoline at Fithouse, snacking on a crudo at the latest cocktail bar, antiquing for French silverware, or dogsitting for anyone who will ask—yes, even you.

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