I'm a young mother with a 2 year old & baby and a background in very basic Graphic Design. At the end of a long day I like to think about my own homemade library:
-I'm making a list of the most engaging/inspiring/informative books I can find for every subject area I can think of.
-I picture various sized wooden bookshelves throughout the house, all the books in a unified colour scheme: dark Christmas-like colours (maroon, dark blue, dark green, burgundy, warm brown etc) with embossed text on the spine so the whole bookshelf looks decorative as it catches the light, but each book will still have its own individuality.
-When I look at a bookshelf the ones that look nicest, individually & as a whole are deep coloured clothbound books with embossed text & some sort of picture (or special text style).
-Something I've noticed is that books from a normal publisher are very individual and are designed to stand out in a bookstore. Great, but they also look quite chaotic on a home bookshelf. Whereas traditionally bound books look nice on the shelf as a whole but they don't have as much individual character (I'm generalizing here).
I've noticed that white, especially white text on the spine contributes to the chaotic look, unless it’s more of a creamy white. Also light falling on a cloth covered book is softer & more subtle than the shiny line of light on a laminated spine; also the embossed text stands out more.
Here is an interesting tutorial on homemade book cloth:
Make your own book cloth
