Bookends

Decorating with Bookends

Bookends add interest and help organize your space whether you have bookcases or bookshelves. You can create a focal point in any room with bookshelves; after all, it doesn’t have to contain just books. You could organize DVDs, magazines, knickknacks, and objects of art. Use marble, resin, or metal bookends to pull together the look of your shelf display. Shop LuxeDecor for more than fifty choices in bookends to use in creating your display.

Before You Buy Bookends

Consider the other items on the shelves and the books or magazines themselves. You might want to create a display that uses the same color, such as a stark, all-white display or you might want to use two colors to provide an accent color, such as books with red covers or spines added to an all-black display. Matching the color of the book stopper to the bookshelves or bookcases provides the best outcome design-wise.

Consider the books you need to support and separate the other items. How large are they? Are they oversized, such as trade paperbacks, or do you have a number of standard-sized hardcovers? Do you need bookends for small paperbacks or magazines? The size of the books or magazines impacts the size of the bookends you choose. When you choose tall bookends for magazines, you don’t have to worry about part of the magazine flopping over and curling.

Consider the size, especially the width of the bookends. This matters most if you plan to use the bookends on your desk. Larger bookends might get in the way of your work if you have a small desk. Likewise, you may not have the space for a book display on your work desk.

Bookends Features to Consider

Some metal bookends will require polishing. When you choose brass, silver, or gold bookends, you will need to use polish designed for that specific metal to clean them, so they do not tarnish.

Heavier materials like marble require sturdy shelves. They also mesh best with shelves, or a bookcase made of a matching material. That doesn’t mean you need brass shelves; it refers to matching the color and “feel” of the bookcase.

For example, Heavy bookends like brass or gold bookends would go well with a deep oak. Silver would complement bookshelves or a bookcase made of wenge, utile, or American black walnut. Silver complements these nearly black species of wood.

Consider the colors and pattern of your existing décor. The selection at LuxeDecor offers bookends with a golf motif, crystal and acrylic bookends, dogs, horses, or elephant motif bookends. Some of these bookends also qualify as objects d’art on their own merits. Such is the case for the Jamie Young Company's creation of bookends in either slab clear mica or pearl resin, which provides you a choice between gray or white bookends.

Types of Bookends

Choose from types of bookends at LuxeDecor. You can find bookends manufactured from many different materials:

• Minerals - Mineral bookends such as those crafted by Jamie Young Company use mica or pearl resin to encase crystals. Other designs use crystals in conjunction with a wood base.
• Metal - Some bookends use heavy metals such as silver or brass to provide a sturdy way to hold up heavy books.
• Glass - Glass bookends use slab glass rather than blown glass to create a clear, see-through weight to hold your books or magazines in place.
• Themed - These bookends typically feature a sculpture or object d’art, such as a bicycle, pineapple, or animal.

How to Choose Bookends

Consider the whole space first, then hone in on the area in which you will create your book collection. You might create this on a mantle or coffee table instead of on a bookshelf. Consider its composition and material. Use brass bookends on a brass and glass coffee table, for example.

You can use decorative bookends, crystal bookends, or those treated to seem like antique bookends in nearly any décor. Some choices, such as animal-themed or sports-themed bookends, work well in a child’s room. Unique bookends such as marble bookends or stone bookends work better in a living room or library.

Consider the décor motif before choosing. Most of the stone choices would work effectively in any modern, contemporary, or post-modern décor. Traditional choices work best in mid-century designs, as does any design using polished brass. Try a horse-themed choice, or cognac and antique brass bookends for a rustic design motif. Also consider these factors:

• Matching sets - Most bookends come as a matching set with the same design on each of the two ends. When the matched set consists of a sculpture on a wood or metal base, these sculpted pieces typically face one another. For example, bookends with a horse's head on either book stopper would have the heads facing each other.
• Mismatched sets - Mismatched sets of bookends feature a different design on either end. This is common with the bookends featuring a larger sculpture that splits in two. For example, bookends forming a whole bicycle cut the bike in half, so that one tire forms one book stopper while the other forms another.
• Single sculpture ends - A few of the bookends available double as objects d’art. This stands alone as a sculpture, such as a dog or the World’s Away silver or gold leaf bookend. If you need two of these items, you must purchase them separately.

Shopping LuxeDecor for Bookends

Whether you want to use bookends on your bookshelf, bookcase, coffee table, or on your work desk, you can find the perfect complement to your home or office décor at LuxeDecor. Need metal bookends or wooden bookends? We have them. The wide selection at LuxeDecor includes modern bookends and vintage looking bookends to complete your décor. Let us help you find the ideal book stoppers for your décor to complete your office or create a focal point of interest in any room.

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