I’ve always been a book hoarder. I loved the library as a kid (and still do) I would get out stacks of
books and read them cover-to-cover. The only thing I didn’t like about the
library was giving the books back. I’ve always had an obsessive want/need to
have my own library. My mom tends to
lend/give away books after she’s read them. I, on the other hand, re-read books
to an obsessive degree. To me they just
keep getting better the more times I read them!
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| My future library! |
I currently have two “bookcases”; one very
large one that has been in my childhood bedroom since, well, childhood and one
that I bought more recently for school. The big one is organized and categorized
by genre. I have a children’s lit shelf, a shelf dedicated to my “horsey” books
(a combination of fiction, non-fiction and children’s lit) plus three other
shelves divided into classic and contemporary fiction. It’s a good system and I
know where every single book is. The second, smaller bookshelf is one I bought
for my house at University and houses all of the books I’ve read during my two
English degrees. These books are well-read, many of them used, written in,
scribbled on and they all have colourful page markers, post-its and bookmarks
within their pages. I like my books messy because I can flip to a page and
remember what we were learning about and what essays I was writing at the time.
Yes, in case you didn’t already know, I am a nerd.
I recently moved in with my boyfriend. When I say “recently”
I mean last January. Yet, for some reason, I’m still not fully moved in. Moving
is exhausting, you always lose things and I have slight OCD when it comes to
having my things in order. So, needless to say, it’s been nice to simply stick
a box of items I want in my backseat every time I visit my parents (Note: my
parents have been amazingly accommodating to my huge amounts of stuff). I am what some people would call a nester. I love cozy spaces! The
one thing I haven’t moved yet is my books.
Honestly, it’s like being separated from my children. I think about them
often. I try not to worry about them being without me. I fret about not reading
them. So, I’ve decided I need to move them. It’s going to be a pain, it’s going
to be messy. But it needs to happen. Thank goodness for Pinterest!
If you search "bookshelf organization" you get a plethora of
wonderful pictures, ideas and lists. I’m going to post the best of the best
here for you to enjoy. This post is meant to inspire me to get organizing and hopefully I can share the results with you soon!
Note for booklovers: the bookshelves I'm about to post are "styled" aka they have a bunch of non-bookish junk on them to make them look pretty. And you can't deny it - they do look pretty. My advice would be to have one big bookshelf that holds a ton of books (it's just practical) and then have a couple smaller ones in more visible areas of your home with pretty accents on them. Showcase your most beautiful books and organize the rest of them by genre, alphabetically or chromatically if you're feeling super motivated! I also like separating my "to read" books on a seperate shelf so that I don't lose track of them.
1.) The Bold Background Colour BookShelf
Better Homes and Gardens says "Keep it simple! To style a bookcase to perfection, resist the urge to pack in accessories on every shelf. Keep a clean look by choosing a one-color or tone-on-tone scheme for vases and figurines, and make sure to mix up shapes. Every so often, step back to assess the overall balance of your arrangement. Place items off-center or try larger or smaller ones until you like what you see."
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| Better Homes & Gardens |
2.) The Knick-Knack-y, Cottage-y Bookhelf
I love this bookshelf for its rustic, cottage-y vibes. It's also one of the only real wood bookshelves I saw. What's up with that? Antlers are very "in" right now so this person got it right with the little deer accessory. The little blue owl is super cute too! I actually have a big green one from Home Sense. I love the big and little Eiffel towers because they bring the shelves together in an otherwise random assortment of knick-knacks. I see what they're trying to do with the horizontal and vertical books but I can't say I love the actual book organization. It might be because they don't have the most attractive books in the world. Plus I would not mix movies and books but hey, I'm a snob.
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| Wildflower Blog |
3.) The Post-Secondary Office Style Bookshelf
Don't these bookshelves remind you of your prof's office? Here are Apartment Therapy's tips:
• Put smaller books up top and bigger books at the bottom and keep relative sized together
• Try to cull all ragged books (esp. paperbacks)
• Leave a little bit of breathing room on each shelf - @10%
• Put your most attractive books at eye level
• Keep your books straight up and down or horizontal
• Never stack anything on top of book rows
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| Apartment Therapy |
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| Apartment Therapy |
4.) The Obnoxiously Colourful Bookshelf
This isn't my style but I think it would appeal to a lot of people! This bookshelf utilizes horizontal and vertical placement more successfully than #2. Real Simple's advice:"borrow a trick from interior designers: inside a bookcase, use paint that's a couple shades darker than the room colour" or "style a bookcase with unexpected items, like an eye-catching anqitue or a porcelain statue".
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| Real Simple |
5.) The Themed Object Bookshelf
This bookshelf works like clockwork! Try using a themed object to tie the shelf together. I particularly enjoy the combination of old and new. You could tailor the type of object to your personal style; for example, I would use a variety of horse shoes!
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| Real Simple |
Sadly, this pin had no origin so I can't give anyone credit for it! If you've seen this picture on a blog somewhere in cyberspace please let me know.... I want to congratulate them! The level of organization is phenomenal. I LOVE the way they have their magazines in baskets because magazines always seem to look ratty and junky!The books are really well organized too and there isn't a single "accent" piece to be seen! Bravo!
7.) The Chromatic Bookshelf
Possibly the most difficult style of organization to pull off, Jacqueline Clair's chromatic bookshelf is pure colour perfection. She makes the mix of books and objects on a simple Ikea-style bookshelf look effortless!
8.) The Modern Bookshelf
Sabreen & Terrence Madden live in a modern loft in Chicago. Their books live on a massive, custom-made industrial sheving unit from North Carolina and are decorated with cool prints, a big M and horse bookends (I want some!). Unlike most shelves on this list I actually believe these books get read! They have objects on the shelves while still managing to have an impressive number of books. All directly accross from where they eat... nice view!
UPDATE: We instragrammed some of our work-in-progress bookshelves... an attempt at chromatic organization and object placement. Instagram us your bookshelf @writersthriftersanddrifters
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