Total Transformation: Creating a Dream Victorian Library

Turning a nondescript 16-by-14-foot room into a Victorian library meant resetting the clock on design styles.

When Medina homeowners approached Architectural Justice interior designer Danielle Midlik about transforming a typical spare room into a distinct library for their cherished media collection, she was up to the task. Having worked with Midlik on other projects, the homeowners shared their vision of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, arranged in very specific sizes to accommodate books, CDs and DVDs they had collected. The room also had to fit an electric keyboard housed in what looks like a baby grand piano. In terms of design, tin ceiling tiles caught the clients’ eyes. “We took those as inspiration for color and tone,” Midlik says.

The transformation began in fall 2023 and lasted through early spring 2024. The result? “It’s like stepping back in time,” she says.

Beautiful Built-ins: Midlik added distressed hickory floors to stay cohesive with flooring in the rest of the home. But choosing a wood type for the built-in bookcases was trickier — the homeowners wanted to avoid anything that looked too modern or Colonial.

Ultimately, red oak was the best choice. It hit the sweet spot for both aesthetics and material costs. The custom stain toned down any hints of orange to achieve a rich, historic look on the

shelves, ladder, doors and window shutters.

Elegant Ceiling: The Gilded Age-style tin ceiling tiles are perfectly centered in a simple flat red oak border, joined to red oak crown molding and the topmost bookcase shelves. This creates a sense of height that draws the eye upward.

“The room is very grand, so it needed that uplifting element to be a focal point,” Midlik says.

Thin strips of molding frame each tile, and an ornamental finial completes each intersection. A silver brushed bronze finish on the tiles gives off a soft metallic glint that reflects ambient light.

“It’s a very ornate pattern,” Midlik says. “We drew inspiration from that to create something that feels like it's been there for a very long time.”

Mood Lighting: The room’s light sources are drum-shaded sconces mounted on casework partitions, table lamps and natural light when the shutters are opened. “We didn’t want any overhead light to keep that cozy vibe,” Midlik notes.

Other ways illumination sneaks into the room include windows in the double French red oak doors from the hallway and the single red oak door leading to the walk-in-closet-turned-office. Plus, the soft blue wallpaper the homeowners chose for both spaces features crushed glass in its damask pattern, adding subtle reflectiveness.

Fine Finishes: The homeowners completed the library’s classic look with traditional furnishings, including a family heirloom marble-topped coffee table and a tufted love seat upholstered in regal red velvet.

Echoing the light and dark tones of the tin ceiling tiles, oil-rubbed bronze hardware recedes from view on functional elements, like the ladder and shutters, whereas more decorative items — like gold shelf corbels, Victorian-inspired porcelain doorknobs and cast bronze cabinet hardware with a gold finish that will patina over time — command attention.

“I like mixing metals,” Midlik says. “It creates more depth and interest.”