Yeah, well I guess books as a decorative element are a matter of taste. And you're right with the revealing story about the owner, chacha: I do find living spaces with no visible books a bit questionable, because I readily assume the owners don't read -- could be just as well they decluttered big time and now own a library card! ;o)
I too could find any of my books if they were sorted by color, that sort of stuff I remember... but I don't want to sort them that way. Doesn't make sense to me and it's a little too design-y for me.
As for pictures on D*S -- I think a lot of them are staged, too. You never see a vacuum or mop, and if there is a pile of something, it's a "vignette" ;o) Still very pretty, everything. Sigh.
If anyone is interested in "real homes" without much staging (I think), there is a German website called So leb' ich ('this is how I live'), a forum/blog/album full of pictures of real homes, real rooms and real diy solutions.
