Room Recipe: An Artful Library in Amsterdam Filled With Vintage Books

A step-by-step guide to translating inspiration into real life

Welcome back to Room Recipe, a column on À La Carte where we stare at an image of a room we love for a very long time, then break down its “ingredients” into specific items and themes. The goal is never to copy, but instead to get to the bottom of why certain rooms just *work* and to understand how we can translate that inspiration into real life. Past recipes have included Dakota Johnson's bedroom in the Hollywood Hills and Eliza Harris' pattern-filled living room in Connecticut (that one is free to read!), but this month we’re recipe testing our first library—one that lives in Amsterdam.

Image via Maxime van Namen.

Carmen is a multi-brand shop, café, and guesthouse in Amsterdam run by Carmen Atiyah de Baets and her husband, Joris ter Meulen Swijtink. Carmen’s grandmother purchased the old canal house in 1980, and after she passed, the couple decided to turn it into a hub for Amsterdam’s creative community—a space where they could host pop-ups, visiting chefs, and dinner parties with ease.

Left image via Maxime van Namen; Right image via Desiré van den Berg.

Carmen’s aesthetic is what you’d expect from two very stylish Dutch people: unfussy, clean lines, natural materials, a soothing color palette… It’s minimal but cozy—a place where you can imagine having a long breakfast after a good night’s sleep. The guest rooms are dressed with vintage art books, hand blown glassware, and bright blue Tekla robes, many of which are available for purchase in the shop just downstairs.

Which brings me to the library. Located in Carmen’s foyer, it serves as a communal space for guests and visitors to gather and rest. The small room is defined by a white, ruffled, wraparound sectional and an architectural bookcase, making it the perfect nook to flip through the pages of the library’s collection while sipping on a cappuccino. I love how intentionally this room is designed, and normally I’d chock it up to some great, custom built-ins and lucky furniture finds, but I believe it’s totally possible to get this look at home, even without a carpenter and upholsterer in your Rolodex.

Read on for a step-by-step recipe that breaks down how to turn an Ikea sofa into that masterpiece of a sectional, how to capture the room’s artfully minimal atmosphere, and how to amass a collection of books that feels like you.

(And, a reminder: If you’re reading this in your email inbox and it cuts off suddenly, be sure to click the link that says something like “Expand email” so you can read the whole thing!)