It does take work to maintain a style. Over time, the addition of personal items, found objects and collections can take a space from carefully curated to carelessly cluttered. Books are considered a very common source of debate.
Take Cheryl Tiegs for example. The celebrated sexy tigress modeled her way through the 1970s and 1980s, and successfully licensed her name to Sears where she sold clothing and accessories to the tune of $1-billion dollars over 10 years.
She hired award-winning interior designer Martyn Lawrence-Bullard to redesign her Bel-Air fixer-upper in a Balinese paradise with British Colonial touches. The most notable change in the house is when Tiegs and designer Bullard ripped out the ceiling in the great room and added color through the house to liven the space. But her passion for books comes through often:
"Lawrence-Bullard insists on a splash of red and something green or living in every room. It also has to be clutter-free. Tiegs tends to leave books sitting around. After Lawrence-Bullard visits, she will find them all put away."
In an article for More Magazine in 2005, Tiegs talks about her passion for books, which seems to be the center of her attention as much as the Bel-Air house she designed with Bullard:
"Being surrounded by books give me such peace and happiness. I think you’re never the same person when you close a book as when you open one; it changes your life very subtly.
“These days, my home is my library. Among my collections are old Africa travel guides, and a book that was Teddy Roosevelt’s. One of my favorite gifts of all time is the complete Oxford English Dictionary set that my ex-husband gave me. Each volume is huge. I’ll never forget opening up that box and thinking, ‘I am in heaven!’
“The book that started it all was An American Tragedy. I was in high school, didn’t come up for air until I was finished, and thought, ‘Wow, this is what happens when you read a good book?’ The only problem at this photo shoot was being surrounded by books--I was frustrated because I wanted to read every one!”"
We think that books continue to be frustrating for the collector, the interior designer, and the professional organizer. How much is enough? Do we need to keep clients at bay, putting their books back in their place when we find them sitting around?
Did books win the battle?
Tiegs is finally parting with her home in Bel-Air on the market for $12-million. While it's probably not the case, we'd like to think the books won the battle.
Tiegs was most recently in NBC's The Apprentice in 2012.
Story assistance from the San Mateo Courier, University of Louisville archives, The Associated Press.
Tiegs home is currently listed with West Los Angeles real estate veteran Joe Babajian.
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How do you decorate with books without letting them get out of control? Let us know in comments, tweet @JohnTrosko, or send an email through our contact page.
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