Thanks Jan and Javachik!

And yes, a big dog in front of the big fireplace, though she is usually in her princess chair. :)

I love it! The shelves look wonderful with your wood beams and ceiling.

Fantastic! I can see Jim drooling over this room because it's perfect for "layering." lol.

I bet it was one heck of a chore getting all the books out and putting them back again. But it sure was worth it!

My oh my, Susan. Loved the before, but I am blown away by the after! I know how much work it was to move all those books (the reason I am not redoing the carpeting in our library-ha). Also, how much fun is it to find such a great deal!!! No wonder the pup looks so serene in her new digs (well, picturing the same pose with the new shelves)! Nothing better than getting a bargain and still having such an amazingly beautiful space.

Absolutely drop dead gorgeous, cozy, and inviting. Great vision and great job.

juddgirl2 - We went back and forth on the color of the stain for a while, especially since the French doors going to my office are a much lighter color (and match the wood floor going in the other room) but once I saw the finished cases I know I would have been disappointed with anything else.

oakley - I'm a huge fan of layering myself and can't wait to get to the decorating part of things. And yes, it was a huge chore removing the books and trying to keep them semi-together. Add to that, there was very little room to store them since we were emptying the other rooms in prep for the floor! I have mostly got them back where I want them. We took some of the old bookcases and put them in my husband's office so he could put his hundreds of cookbooks in there. Then I was able to take some of the books from my office and put them in the library. Whew!

cyn, thanks! The carpet is going to be an issue. It will need to be replaced, which will me taking everything off the shelves and removing the cases and putting them "somewhere" but for now, I just want to get everything else out of the room and the workers gone so we can clean the carpet.

reno, thank you! This was one of those times where reality actually matched (or bested) the vision in my head.

Wow, that is awesome looking room. Congrats for getting it done for such a great price too! The color looks great with the red walls. Dont you just love red!

This is so lovely! I just want to curl up with a cup of tea and a book! Great job!

That turned out wonderfully. I really like the way the red compliments the dark wood. You had a great vision. c

You got a GREAT deal! Those look amazing and the whole room calls to the book lovers. Your GSD is the perfect complement!!

My Lola says "Hello" to your pup and is super jealous of her chair. Although she prefers to stretch out :) An old photo of her with her kitty.

Susan, you had a handsome room before, but now it's a knockout. The orderly grid of the shelves & the unbroken horizontal line at the top create visual order, no matter what's going on down at floor level. Overall, the room is a great example of how color & pattern--and here, it's the multi-colored spines of your books that supply the pattern--can be wonderful labor-saving devices. It's a rare room that can look good with piles of boxes & junk on the floor, but yours does, because the elegant, civilized feeling of the room itself is strong enough to overpower any temporary visual cluttter.

A lot of people think simplifying & decluttering their rooms will make them more welcoming & easier to care for, and for some people that may be true, but for a lot more people, an oversimplified decor like that can backfire. Sure, in glossy magazines & catalogs, rooms with pale, unbroken walls, matching solid-color upholstery & a few carefully-selected pieces of art look great, but in houses with kids & pets & (so I'm told) husbands, that simple, serene vibe can be tough to maintain, and the lack of anything of visual interest up above allows the eye to settle on anything that's out-of-place down below. Who needs a decor that emphasizes (rather than hides) the often messy evidence of normal life? Not me.

Your wonderful room, by contrast (and, I'm sure, by plan) even with the typical halfway-finished chaos going on below, looks incredibly warm & inviting, which is a guaranteed way of making people want to come to visit. I can't wait to see a formal portrait of your room when it's ready for its close-up. Congratulations!
M.

Fabulous!

Susan! Every time I read more about you, it's like reading about a twin sister...(and I wasn't born with sisters, so...)

You are a writer, I'm an author, too.
Married to a pilot. Ditto.
The crowning touch is that gorgeous German Shepherd. Have I mentioned I used to show and train, yes, you guessed it, German Shepherds? I'm currently without one and I have puppy fever pretty bad. lol

I'm going to show my husband your library. It's clear in the order of the universe, *I* should have one, too. lol

I think the old library was nice, but the new cabs with the tops make such a difference. I think having a defined top made it more classy and classic. I bet you will enjoy it every time you walk in or even walk by.

susanwrites, are you in the SF bay area? And if so, where did you get your lovely bookcases?!

My poor books are in boxes!!

Thanks in advance!

*wipes drool from chin*
OMG is that ever incredibly amazingly beautiful!
I don't think I'd ever leave that room!
In fact, I'd make an empty shelf and set it up as a hot tea/coffee station. Then, other than bathroom visits, I'd never have to leave!

Just beautiful!

And the pics of the furbabes had me smiling from ear to ear.
Thank you for adding those pics too!

roseabbey - thanks, and yes, I adore red!

jojogirl11 - you described the way I've spent the last few days. It's a good spot for me to sit and "supervise" the rest of the work being done. :)

trailrunner & pudgeder - thank you. A lot of reading posts here have helped to inform my vision.

Alex - love the pic of Lola with her kitty!

happyintexas - (my other long, lost sister!) of COURSE you should have a library too! (But I'm not married to a pilot, I just write about one..haha)

dianalo - this is the room we spend the most time in. It has the comfy chairs, the TV, the larger fireplace, so it really meant a lot to us to finish it off. Heck, we have three dining tables but we eat in here, plates on our laps (it's just us two.)

amity - hubby and I got a good giggle over your idea. The last few weeks we have barely left the room except for food and bathroom breaks.

marcydc - Yes, I'm in the Silicon Valley. We got the cases from Sweets in the Nude in Santa Cruz. If you go there, ask for Dean.

Magnaverde - I have to tell you that when I read your response to my post I let out a little yelp that woke the dog and startled hubby. :) I tried to explain to him why your kind words meant so very much to me and I think hubby sort of understands now.

I read most all of the posts here and you are always so generous with your knowledge and explain things in ways that us non-professionals can understand and adapt to our situations. I learn so much from your posts but I think this is the first time I had such words from you and they have really touched my heart. Thank you, thank you so very much.

My goal for this room was to make it warm and inviting and to pull people all the way into the house. You see part of this room from the front door and I think it works like a magnet. Another goal (with this recent makeover) has been to try and make the rest of the house as warm and inviting. People come in and walk right through the rest of the house, not wanting to linger anywhere else. Hopefully the new flipping of the living room and dining room, removal of the sterile tile and new wood floor will help.

Left to do in this room to figure out how to arrange the antique china cabinet that's in here in one of those luscious feats of layering rather than just dishes stacked on top of dishes. It was the first antique I bought before I understood what I was going for and it isn't what I want there but can't seem to sell it. (I've been trying to sell it but can't get half of what I paid for it.) And a couple of chairs for the library table. And then the fun of decorating once all the other stuff gets out of here. :)

Thanks to all my cheerleaders along the way. You all rock!

specifically those red walls in study, look awesome, I always think that, study walls should be light in colour but these images just completely changed my mind.

Here is a link that might be useful: Modern Sectional sofa

AWESOOOOME! You must be thrilled to pieces, enjoy this fabulous room!

The stain and depth of bookshelves is perfect! I am looking forward to seeing the ready for the closeup photo! And am curious now about the antique china cabinet in there- have we seen it?

Gorgeous! So glad you went with this stain. Perfect!

Thanks everyone!

Cooper, here's a bad pic of the antique china cabinet. (pre painted wall) It looks like there's a light growing out of its head. I'm not sure what do there. I hate the idea of taking a light out completely but that may be where I'm heading. There's no room for a sconce on the side of the French doors with that cabinet there. (Plus I'd have to wire a sconce on the other side of the door to a different switch.)

There's truly no place else in the house this cabinet could go. There's no space left. I'd love to get rid of it and put a small chest there instead but it is what it is. I know I overpaid for it but I can't bring myself (yet) to let it go for a few hundred bucks. And it's all one piece and so blasted heavy.

susan - Could you replace the sconce with a different style of light so the light is coming from the top of that cabinet - maybe just a pile of rope lights or a couple of candlestick style lights on top of the cabinet.

The new library looks fantastic.

lazygarden - I'm all for replacing the light but so far haven't found anything small enough to not look like it's growing from the cabinet. :)

Not sure rope lights would work but then I can't visualize it. I wouldn't want the lights to set on top of the wood. I don't think that would be good for the wood, right? Plus the top has a pretty strong arch so things would fall off.

Maybe something like this would be better? Still about the same height but different design.

Or maybe something like this mounted horizontally?
{{!gwi}}

Or go even larger on the horizontal one so it looks like a light is there on purpose?
{{!gwi}}

I would cap off the sconce and paint the cap the wall color. I donâÂÂt think it matters what style of light you put up there, it is going to look odd.

The new bookcases are lovely. The only thing I would do differently is paint the white trim above the entertainment center to the color of the walls, or change it out to wood trim to match the bookcases.

Wow! Wow! Wow! That is one amazing room. I remember your original post. I can't believe it turned out so amazing. That chair and the pup is sooo cute.

I have serious envy. I will be dreaming that I have that library in my house tonight.

Thanks, kitchenkelly.

les, interesting thought about the trim. I'll have to play with that in photoshop. There's a lot of other white trim in the room so I feel like it might look funny to have one piece of it a different color but maybe not.

My only reason not to cap off that light is that I do want to get rid of that china cabinet and have a lower chest there instead. But that may be where I'm heading when I can handle another visit from the electrician and then the sheetrock guy and then the painter. Ugh. In other words, not immediately. :)

Susanwrites, where did you find the first sconce you posted? I might need 2 similar to that style if our house purchase goes through. Thanks

chipsa, That sconce is from Lighting Direct. The link is below.

Here is a link that might be useful: sconce for chipsa

You donâÂÂt need to do anything that permanent. Any home store has metal discs that are designed to cap pff electrical boxes. Just remove the fixture cap off the box by screwing the disc in place, and then put a green plant on top of the cabinet to hide it. :-) Later on if you move the cabinet, you can just remove the metal disc and put in the new fixture.

Love the idea in theory, Les, but there's no place to put a plant on top since there's that arch. :(

Thanks, though.

Dogs! Love those dogs, and love that you all love your dogs so much they live on the furniture. (Our therapy dog is currently on the bed with me, snuggled in my hip. She's gassy, but I love her anyway [she probably says the same about me].)

Your room is just beautiful and I am so delighted with your ingenuity! Delighted and envious. I can tell you are wonderful to be around because anyone who have a room that inviting, that cosy, is sure to be.

Congratulations on your room -- it is terrific!

Happy holidays.

Wow, it looks amazing! I can just imagine curling up in there and reading my favorite book, and I adore the red paint you used in the room!

Swoon! I love it!! So did you stain and then add some sort of moulding to the top?

rmkitchen - yes we are a big dog loving household here and Cassie is a spoiled princess. :)

Thanks Amber and htnspz, yes, we had them stained and one of the custom options from the store was the molding at the top and the hip molding all the way around. It really made a difference for us.

Ah, sorry, I didnâÂÂt realize the arch was the depth of the cabinet. Thought it was just a piece on the front.

So, take the bulb out of the sconce, and fill it with an artificial ivy and fern combo that will flow out and cascade down.

My dog is Kassi, and a spoiled princess as well. :-)

oh Les, now THAT is positively brilliant. And cheap! I am going to try just that. I knew someone here would have the perfect answer! Can't wait to see what folks come up with for me to do with my little under the stairs thing.

And I think all critters should be spoiled! :)

Now, THAT is a room I could live in forever!!!!!
Warm, cozy, beautiful and just downright perfect!
GREAT job!

I was so mesmerized by your beautiful new bookcases that I didn't even notice that you took these pics midway through the process. It was only after I read Magnaverde's post about "piles of boxes and junk on the floor" that I even realized there was anything other than furniture on the floor. LOL I guess my reaction is evidence of just how right is he about how good your room looks even though you're not quite finished with it.

BTW - that's a wonderful collection of books you have!

declansmom and oldhouseluvr, thank you. While we come to the end of the transformation it seems like we are hitting more bumps in the road so these kinds words are nice to read.

Wow...that really did turn out great. Looks like a real library now. Doggy decorum is fabulous...LOL

fwiw, when I first saw the photo, I also thought the white trim above the entertainment center needed to be painted the wall color. It's visually distracting and cuts that space in half.

I have library envy!

I was so mesmerized by your beautiful new bookcases that I didn't even notice that you took these pics midway through the process. It was only after I read Magnaverde's post about "piles of boxes and junk on the floor" that I even realized there was anything other than furniture on the floor. LOL I guess my reaction is evidence of just how right is he about how good your room looks even though you're not quite finished with it.

Ditto!

Allison, good to know you also feel that way about the trim over the entertainment center. I will do a mock-up.

I guess my one question would be, if I were to decorate the ledge above that white trim (the trim is the forward edge of a ledge that goes back about 3 feet and the full length of that wall) would it still be good to have it all one color?

I don't know that I would decorate the ledge. I've been on the lookout for something to put up there but in almost 4 years, I haven't found anything yet. I just wonder because it defines a change in levels.

Would not matter if you ended up finding something. If it were my room, I would not put something there.

Thanks for the feedback Allison. I haven't found anything to put up there since we moved in and I think it's because my gut has been telling me not to do it. I have a ledge in my office that I like to fill with stuff.

Oddly enough, that ledge doesn't have any molding and it's painted the same color as the walls. I was recently thinking about adding molding and painting it white for more contrast. Now that you've said that about painting out the library trim I'll rethink it.

There's another ledge, with white trim, in the kitchen too. Hmmm.

Lovely result--and a clever solution to the cost of custom cabinets. Yours look as good or better!