Hi everyone! When this post goes live, I'll actually be out of town (I'm a sneaky one). Matt and I will be traipsing along somewhere near Traverse City today (we came up here for a wedding on Saturday). Nevertheless, I have a question I've been meaning to ask, and perhaps you can help me!
I know I have talked about book organization before. However, I'm looking for some ideas from you about my shelves. As of right now, I have 5 shelves. 4 are big, full-sized beasts, and I have one tall, skinny shelf. 2 of my shelves are in our living room and they house all of my classics. The other 3 are in our second bedroom/office and have a mish-mash of YA, Science-fiction, Fantasy, History, and random other books I didn't want boxed up anymore.
Here is my problem.
Since I started collecting the new Penguin English Library books, my classics collection has grown...a lot. In fact, since I started blogging, my classics collection went from about half a big bookshelf to filling 2 big shelves (and then some). Right now, I have my clothbounds and PELs separated out from the rest of my classics-they look very pretty all together on the shelf-but they are growing as I continue to acquire and now I don't have room for all my classics in our living room. So what gets moved to the other bedroom? My classics are mainly organized alphabetically by author, so should I just take my poor end of the alphabet classics and moved them out? Or should I take a big set of titles (like my Shakespeare-which takes up a whole row...and then some) and move them over? WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
And second problem...
My shelves in the second bedroom are also overflowing...which is a surprise to my husband...I mean, where are all those extra books coming from? (*whistles innocently*). I need to put some books away in a box to clear room for the classics moving in, and to get rid of the excess double stacking. But what do I put away? Should I keep old favorites on the shelves just because I love them? Or should I just keep unreads out so they taunt me into picking them up?
See, this is a very serious problem. :) I need your ideas! How do you organized your shelves? Be super specific and help a girl out!
Thanks in advance for all your help!
(And I'll be back in person on Wednesday). :)
You have quite the bookish problem on your hands! I, myself, tend to just buy more bookshelves and figure out where to put those...haha. Right now I'm considering shelves in the kitchen...for books. To address your problems, I think I'd move the Shakespeare and box up your old favorites. Need to keep those never reads out of boxes so you eventually get to them!
ReplyDeleteI'm with Brooke! More bookshelves! Build your own and have them floor to ceiling :) Seriously, that's what I'm going to have to do soon. Honestly, I could not move any of mine out of sight (remember when I was going through my switching bedroom phase, and all my books had to go in the small spare room and I complained about it until I swapped everything back?! :) )
DeleteI'm jealous of this problem...I don't have enough books in my house. Brooke's idea sounds like a good one. I hope you'll share the solution you come up with!
ReplyDeleteMore shelves!
ReplyDeleteI just got three floor to ceiling bookcases with fives shelves and faced this very problem! I also collect sets of books (Best American Essays, Best American Travel Writing). I made sure to have room for the full sets - I figured that that's the point in having the set is to have them all sitting nicely together. In the remaining space, I tried to do a 50/50 mix of old favorites that I've read and know I'll keep pulling out to look at and TBRs so that they are constantly staring me in the face.
ReplyDeleteI hope this helps! Can you do a follow-up post once you've figured out the organizational scheme? :)
I love this problem! Haha. :) I tend to have the same one though... I'm needing to buy another bookshelf to store my more modern works and some teen fiction, but it doesn't need to be big. Target has a small three shelf bookcase for $20 and it's a useful thing if you need a little something extra to store your books on.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I can't handle storing any of my books. I want to be able to see them all, the ones I've read, need to read, and my pretty ones!
One of the ways I deal with the overflow is storing my books in areas other than just bookshelves. I have most of my teen fiction lined up on top of my dresser, my classics that don't fit into a collection (like my penguin clothbounds) on my bookshelf are lined up on a sofa table against the wall and behind my sofa, and I also keep books above my cabinets in my kitchen. They are all arranged beautifully of course. I have books lined up on top of my piano.
Generally the best thing to do is play around a little! I play with my books and arrange them like a child plays with toys. Struggle. Just play a little and use them for decorating too!