JOIN USWith the new year having arrived, it will be the resolution of many people to clean up the previous year’s mess.
After all, it is an excuse to get rid of all the clutter and start afresh. While some prefer buying new stuff and decorating the house, others use ‘waste’ innovatively to make the interiors a lot more fun and interesting.
It is quite likely that you would find several unused things in the house while you go on that cleaning spree. “As always, we decided to get an all new look for the house and while cleaning, I found several books, all packed in boxes. I dusted the boxes and put them back in their place,” said Merlyn D’costa, a freelance writer. Merlyn is one among the many bibliophiles who will find several dozens of books in showcases, cupboards, boxes or old bookshelves at home.
With the dawn of e-books, the younger generation sure has forgotten the charm of books, how lovely it is to hold a book and flip the pages, explained Merlyn. An avid reader herself, she believes that books should never be put away. But she states that the more she buys, the lesser the space she has to keep her books in. “I haven’t forgotten the books. I’ve just put them in suitcases and cartons to make place for the new ones,” she said.
Agreeing with her is Afifa Aleem, a Bengaluru-based interior designer. She states that making room for things in the house is something most people find hard. This often happens because they lack creativity and everyone wants to go for ready-made things available in the market. A few adjustments here and there and you can make room for anything in the house.
“Be it bookshelves or wardrobes - all you need to do is think out of the box and in this case you must do it literally,” she chuckles.
Practicality and aesthetics must go hand in hand when it comes to bookshelves. Afifa has plenty of ideas to share here. Everybody would love to have a quiet reading corner, if not, at least a nice looking space to display those beauties, arranged aesthetically and kept at arm’s length. “If you have crates or an old door thrown in your backyard or even a useless ladder, you can use it to make attractive bookshelves,” says Afifa.
Doors and windows
You can create funky-looking corner shelves by using old wooden doors. Use them innovatively rather than throwing them away. Old doors have a rustic feel that you could keep intact or you always have the option of repainting them and adding slabs at regular intervals.
According to Afifa, this is the best sort of bookshelf as it saves a lot of space and you can also reuse old materials for this purpose. It isn’t just doors, windows can be used, too. Make sure to choose a colour that matches the walls.
Crates and boxes
This idea has long existed and people have used them in their homes, not just as bookshelves, but as shoe racks as well. You can use light-weight, wooden boxes, and join them with binder clips. If they are heavy, you could secure them with screws and make a beautiful formation, symmetrical or asymmetrical, depending on your preference. You can fill the entire wall or just a part of it.
Most often, people leave these crates as they are, without painting on them, as the boxes create a nice texture. Once your formation is created you can fasten it to the wall and fill them with books. You can also keep vases and flowers on the boxes to decorate them.
Chairs and tables
This is a unique way of making some room for your books, says Afifa. Interior designing, simply put, is not rocket science; it’s all about using creativity to make something very ordinary into an extraordinary piece of furniture that can be used.“Cut the tables or chairs leaving just the flat portion and the legs on the other side. Now mount them on the walls in different angles. Use them to create an unusual looking shelf and nail them to the wall. To give it a more attractive look, you could spray paint these with delightful colours or designs or even wrap the legs using colourful cloth or paper,” she suggests.
Ladders and wood
If there’s one prop that Afifa loves to use, it’s the ladder! Her love for ladders and their use began when she came across the immense potential that the piece of equipment had in interior designing.
She gleefully explained that one can place two ladders inclined to each other and place wooden slabs between the rungs, fasten them with ropes or nail them and place the books in between. “It looks beautiful and I can vouch for its functional value,” she smiles.
As you can see, there is so much you can do with what you have. Add tiny adornments to make it look lively or place a dim lighting or then, add a colourful tone. But make sure you do what your creativity tells you to. Don’t let the lack of space throw a spanner in your reading habit. This year, let it be all about smart innovation!