These Bookshelves Will Brighten Your Day

Everyone knows a bookworm's most important home accessory is her bookshelf, that little (or big) piece of furniture that stores her most prized collection of love-worn paperbacks, shiny hardcovers, childhood favorites, and beloved series revisited time and again. Your bookshelf says a lot about you — your interests, passions, travels, guilty pleasures, memories, and aspirations — and if you’re a true literary devotee, you’re likely guilty of being a shelf voyeur yourself.

The bookshelf is one of the first things that catches your eye when you’re in someone else’s home. These are the books they choose to showcase to the world, often meticulously chosen, so they impart insight into the reader's personality. Obviously, though the contents are key, shelving style and design is important, too. Letting someone slow-browse your book collection is like letting them read a few pages of your diary; it's giving them an intimate tour of your inner brain, so why not make it an exciting one?

These book collectors certainly did, making rainbows of their collections. And what better time than now to follow suit, to reorganize and perfect your quiet reading alcove, make it eye-catching and inviting, a luminous world you want to escape to at the end of a long day. Here are 23 gorgeous, multi-colored shelfies to inspire your next library makeover.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.