In past homes, we've liked having one or two bookshelves in our living room for some of the prettier/nicer books. In this apartment, I think we're going to try and make my office like a library and put all the books on a couple of big shelves (maybe with a ladder??). I'm meeting with a contractor sometime this week who will be building some walls in our very open apartment. And I'm hoping he can make the walls in my office floor-to-ceiling bookshelves - that will probably be way out of the budget though.
If we can't get the floor-to-ceiling numbers, I might just get a couple boxes of Billy's with the extender shelves. Wouldn't it be cool to add this arched detail for a more custom look? I think it would be an easy DIY with some 1/4" MDF and a $35 circular saw.
An even easier take away idea is the great paint job - white exterior with black shelves and shelf backs. Looks dramatic, but still clean.