Home Library Makeover

Transform an underused room in your home into a functional and comfortable home library. This makeover has been a long time coming. We started working in this room in January and it took a while to get it just the way we wanted it.

Now, it’s been transformed from a dark, formal sitting room into a bright and casual home library.

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Starting last December, I decided that I wanted to give a makeover to a room that’s at the front of our house just across from the dining room. In the south, we affectionately refer to these underused rooms as parlors.

It needed a makeover to reflect my evolving style choices. We’ve been in our home since 2004 and this was the last room that really hadn’t been changed at all since we first moved in. The only change I made was to replace the burgundy curtains with cream colored linen ones a couple of years ago.

Room Makeover into a Home Library

This room was home to an old piano that was not played, but used as a display for family photos of bye-gone years. I’ve had this since Gloria was in 2nd grade and she took piano lessons.

We checked to find out the cost of having it tuned and found out that there were so many parts that needed to be replaced that it would cost more to repair it than to buy a new one. It was time to say good-bye to this piano.

The other furniture in the room was dark and formal. I’ve had that old bookcase since the mid 1990s. It was custom built and was still sturdy, but I had a plan to replace it with several white bookcases, so it needed to go, too.

The small grandmother clock was given to my by my brother when it didn’t have room for it at his place. He has since moved, so I was able to re-home it with him. He also took the three tiered table. I still have the foyer table, but I’m hoping to find a new home for it soon.

After clearing everything out of the room, we pulled up the old carpet and installed Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) flooring. This was the best decision! Huge thanks to Georges, my son in law, who installed it in this room and throughout our downstairs. It was a big undertaking!

I’m planning on creating a post to share with you some of the advantages of using LVP flooring and how it is installed. Look for that soon on the blog.

Since this room is now a home library, I thought globes and maps would be good decor choices to go along with the library theme. I’ve had this old globe since my teaching days. So, it’s probably from the late 1990s. The Small Pedestal Table is one I’ve had for years. A few years ago I painted it and added a painted shell stencil. The globe covers the stencil which is good for its new home in the library.

The only piece of furniture that I kept from the parlor is this blue tufted chair. It’s another piece that I’ve had since the 90s, but it works as a comfortable reading nook in one corner of the room.

I like the combination of the soft green table and the blue chair. Along with the white bookcases, that’s the color palette for the room.

The accent chairs have been in our sunroom for several years, but I did some rearranging of that room and added a bench which allowed me to move the chairs into the library.

Keeping in mind that I was on a budget for the room transformation, we opted to go with bookcases that needed to be assembled. My husband and Georges put four of them together over a few days.

Y’all know I love a good thrift store find. When I spotted this old world map framed in black at my local Goodwill for only a few dollars, I knew it need to come home with me and it looks great above the bookcases.

One of the things I love about having lots of space for books on the shelves it that the shelves can also be styled with photos and decor pieces.

I changed out all of the picture frames I had with white, black, or weather-worn ones. Along with some of my favorite family photos, I’m using lots of pineapple decor pieces on the bookcases.

The large Pineapple Bookend was made using items I found at a thrift store. It was an easy and budget friendly DIY project.

When styling shelves on a bookcase, I like to leave enough room so that the books can still be easily accessible even with photos on the same shelf.

Choosing bookcases that have cabinet on the bottom was important to me not only because I love how they look, but it’s so practical. I can put some of our paperback books and some of our photo albums inside of the cabinets. They are easy to find, but it keeps things neat.

I couldn’t be happier with how this room transformation turned out. Now, the first room just inside our front door looks much more welcoming than it did before. The light color palette is inviting and it’s a great spot to spend some time reading.

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Home Library with White Bookcases

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