Instant gratification: this is the “after.” |
Since I spend much of my day pinned to one place with my voracious little munchkin (or barracuda, as his grandmother likes to refer to him), I've been revisiting some projects I took photos of but never posted about. I'm also slowly taking some pictures of Pippo's nursery to share, but for now this is something I can show you while nursing!
The aforementioned munchkin. |
The Lt and I definitely inherited a love of books and reading from our families. We're constantly running out of shelf space for our ever-growing library (we actually counted our books as part of this project: over 750, though I cleverly forgot the exact number. Not as many as in my parents' house, and not as many as in my in-laws' house, but we've only been married for a year and a half. Just give us time!), and so are always on the lookout for more bookcases.
After two of our tall ones (from WalMart or someplace similar) fell apart during a move, we were in something of a desperate book storage situation here, but had started to doubt the wisdom of investing any more money into these cheap bookshelves.
Instead, the Lt (who's never taken on anything in the woodworking way like this before) announced that he was going to build us some!
A makeshift workbench. |
We decided we wanted long, low shelves for our living room, and actually found instructions for a pair of bookcases with just the right dimensions here on Ana White's website. The Lt spent a few weekend afternoons working on them, and presto – they were done! The plans proved (according to the Lt; all I did was hold a piece of wood once while he hammered it) clear and accurate, and we love that the two shelves can go next to each other to give a lovely built-in look without actually being one huge and unwieldy piece of furniture.
(They're also cleverly designed so that they use the pieces of wood sold at the hardware store very efficiently).
They came out beautifully!
Our one (minor) complaint is that the pieces of wood that finish the front and back edges are wider than the plywood, leaving a little lip on either side. If that makes sense. You can see the lip in the picture below. It's not obvious in the pictures on her site (though obviously, if we had thought about it hard enough before starting the project, we could've figured it out ourselves), because she shows the shelves with baskets on them, but if you're using them for books, the lip hides the one on the end (or at least part of it). On the bright side, it also helps make the shelves look nice and polished.
(One of our tall bookshelves – a craigslist find originally from IKEA, I think – has a lip of an inch or two, which drives us crazy because books simply disappear behind it. So sad!)
One bookshelf finished and ready to be stained. |
Imagine my delight when I discovered that I had married a Man who can Build Things!
Now I'm putting in orders for more furniture – I'd like a coffee table, please! Shelves for the baby's room! And some bedside tables!
You know, when you're not busy defending our country and whatnot.
The stained shelf in the midst of the book-organizing madness. |
Now, it's possible that some late-pregnancy nesting hormones came into play here, because when the shelves were stained and ready to go, it seemed to me that we really should take this opportunity to organize our books. All of them.
What? Is that a picture of my baby taking a bath in the kitchen sink? How'd THAT get in here? |
You see, after uniting our libraries in Holy Matrimony and then quickly moving, when we finally landed here our priority was to get everything unpacked and on the shelves. We put books up willy-nilly, but the lack of any sort of organizational system (we're talking Marx and Gaudy Night on the same shelf – who can live like that?!) had long offended our book-loving sensibilities.
Before it gets better, it has to get worse. |
So we took them all out, from all the shelves and stacks in all the corners of our house.
We divided them into fiction and non-fiction, organizing the fiction by author on the tall shelves in the den. The non-fiction fits nicely on the low shelves in the living room, where we arranged it by subject.
(The Lt talked me out of implementing the Dewey Decimal System, which was probably a wise call.)
The shelf on the left is the one with the offending lip. It now houses Fiction: Aiken through Fitzgerald. The chair was for the very pregnant lady to sit on while she alphabetized books. |
These are two of the three tall bookcases we have left. When we lived in Virginia I spray painted the shelf on the right white to make it match the others, but since it's laminate it didn't take the paint too well, and I quickly got bored (naturally, I didn't prime it or anything first).
In our first apartment, it was in a corner next to another bookcase, so I just made sure that the exposed parts would be solid white and cheated on the rest. Where we have it now, the half-painted side is more visible, though not completely obvious. It's never quite seemed worth it to me to finish painting it. (Somewhat in my defense, I don't think any of our guests has noticed my poor paint job without me first pointing it out. Or at the very least, when I do point it out, they've all been polite enough to say that they hadn't noticed until then!)
Lazy, I know. I choose to consider it a visible reminder of my flawed humanity. Sort of like how the girls in Puritan New England would purposefully stitch a mistake into their samplers, because only God is perfect. (I distinctly remember my mom laughing at this tidbit, which I brought back from an elementary school field trip: “As if that's all that's keeping you from making a Perfect Sampler!”)
I'll admit: this project gave us a great sense of nerdy contentment.
Plus, it was fun to go through all our books and remember the ones we hadn't seen in a while, argue about which category to place them in (the Library of Congress classifications came in handy here, not that I'm obsessive at all), and periodically order each other to read one we'd particularly loved.
What's more, we now have enough room for all of them! With a little wiggle room to grow.
I don't know exactly how the books in our house were organized when I was growing up, but there must have been some system because I always knew where to find what I was looking for. It probably helped that I would stare at the shelves for ages, trying to decide which of our hundreds of books to read next. I found it entrancing.
What do you do with the books in your house? (and what happens when you get more books? Is my system destined to be short-lived?) And please don't tell me that you use the Dewey Decimal System, because if you do, I might need to start all over again!
esther says
seems like we have the same issue in our home and i am noticing our taste in books is the same — i bought that t.s. eliot book for my hubs a few years ago and we have that Solzenitsyn book from ISI? too:) lovely bookshelves. my husband built us a modern farm table for our sun room & now is currently building a bunk/trundle bed for our sons. (while in the navy no less!)
Christina says
Wow, you put our library to shame! We only have two bookcases, and the bottom shelves of the one have been cleared of valuable books so as not to tempt curious toddler hands 🙂
_Leila says
Clearly you need the Dewey Decimal system.
I really love those bookcases. I may have to get me some of my own…he did a great job — they look so professional, which I was so impressed with when I visited.
As to the lip, the built-ins in Papa's office here have the same thing, and we put random unwanted things there, as filler. Or very thick reference works.
_Leila says
JK, JK. I love how you are OCD about the system but not about the spray painting. It's so LMLD 😉
Rosie says
Haha… I didn't connect those dots, but it's so true! Some things are worth obsessing over, and other things are… boring.
(and we actually did end up putting filler books in behind the lips – duplicate copies, books we would've otherwise gotten rid of, etc.)
Lisa G. says
I see that Pippo has mastered the art of smiling!
Our house is small, and I try to get rid of books which I'm not absolutely wanting to read or use again. Even so, most of mine are in my bedroom, and I would like to get some out – but there isn't much shelving space in other rooms. Got to figure out what to do about it.
I really like that horizontal space you have for display on top of your new shelves!
Melanie B says
Beautiful bookshelves! I'm afraid we did a quick throwing books onto shelves when we moved in more than two years ago. They're sort of arranged by category: all the poetry books together, all the theology books together, etc. I've been meaning to tackle the project of organizing them ever since but somehow it keeps getting bumped down the priority list. (That's what happens when you have a positive pregnancy test within a week of moving into a new home.) So we're on our second baby since moving in and our books are still a mess because it just seems like such a huge project. It will have to get done eventually because we're going to have to turn the current office/library into the children's room, which will mean some major reconsideration of which books to keep and which to send to new homes.
By sheer coincidence while I was reading this post, my husband told me I absolutely had to watch this video: “Organizing the Bookcase ”
_Leila says
That video is evil. Organizing books by color cannot be condemned strongly enough.
Caryn says
Really? Our books are all in color order and it's worked out rather well. But I'm a visual artist, and I tend to see only the cover/dust jacket and not title and author.
Charlotte (Matilda) says
Having older children who all love to read and reread it was most important to me, when organizing their shelves that they know where to find the books they loved AND where to put them back when they were done! I wrote this post about organizing the books in the playroom:
http://tiredtwang.blogspot.com/2010/08/kiss.html
We have also continued the method in their rooms and so far, it works great!. The grown-ups books are not as organized, but I can managed to find what I need, so I didn't think it really necessary.
Rosie says
That's so clever! Right now our few picture/board books are up in Pippo's room and our chapter books are mixed in with the rest, since we don't have enough yet (or someone old enough to read them) to warrant their own shelf. But I definitely plan on that collection growing soon, so I'll have to keep this system in mind!
Celine says
Beautiful! I will caution, however, that once baby barracuda is up and scooting around, he's going to reorganize your books for you 😉
Magda says
This is such a lovely post! (And not just for the Pippo picture; what a lovey!) I've been contemplating organizing our books, with seven weeks to go before our second little one arrives. My mother had visited in August and “organized” our books for us … by country of author, which does nothing for me, and we hadn't even *found* all the book boxes yet, so we've got English schoolgirl books next to Romanian theology next to paperback science fiction next to the books I've inherited from my father's Irish collection (some trashy romance, other first edition 19th century things). You've given me hope that, even round as I am, I may as well pile them all into one room and attack!
Rosie says
Wow, country of author is not intuitive for me, either. But at least it's something!
I found that when I roped my husband into my nesting projects, I got a whole lot more done. 🙂
tarynkay says
We organize fiction topically as well as nonfiction. So we have for instance, Action/Adventure books on a different shelf than Russian literature. Within each category, I do keep say, all of the Louis L'amour together, and all of the Tolsty together, but they aren't even organized alphabetically within the categories. Instead, the cowboy books give way to the WWII fiction, which gives way to political thrillers, which gives way to sci fi adventure books- but not serious, contemplative sci fi- that goes somewhere else. I guess you could say that I organize emotionally rather than alphabetically. This is probably utterly unhelpful to anyone else trying to find something. We have an architect friend who arranges his (many thousands of) books by color, which is beautiful but possibly even less helpful. But he is always able to find exactly what he's looking for!
TessaDiane says
Wow, I'm in awe….my book collection is very meager. The kids have a bookshelf in their room. The bottom holds books they read currently. The top has books from mine and my husband's childhood that they will hopefully want to read someday. I have a bookshelf in my kitchen that houses all my cookbooks. My mixing bowls are interspersed on the shelves because I think it looks pretty. Then in our bed room is a book shelf with everything else…..in no particular order. I'm a little sad because we moved A LOT in our early years of marriage and I convinced myself I needed to pair down my collection…..wish I hadn't done that.
Kalee says
My husband worked in a library for years before joining the air force. I had to talk him out of the Dewey decimal system, explaining that I didn't want to try and learn it. We've been married for nearly 4 years, the book collection is well over a thousand and growing. Eventually we'd love a home with a huge high ceilinged library with a fireplace and built-ins, but for now we're settling for a wall of bookcases up to our tall ceilings. Your husband's bookcases turned out beautifully!
Rosie says
Sigh. Wouldn't that be lovely? I *love* built-ins.
Mamabear says
Yikes! We hav new shelves and I haven't found my groove yet. Maybe a good Lenten cleaning project?
freckled hen says
Your baby is so very cute! And I just want to say (because someone has to) it is a difficult combination to be a military wife and have an extreme love of books… on our last move the movers asked if we owned a library!
Somehow they make me feel less homesick, they never fail to make our house feel like a home no matter where we have lived.
The bookcases are really nice, he did a great job!
Rosie says
Our movers kept asking if we had read all of our books – and pretty much cheered when the last box went out!
Only in Louisiana says
Love the bookshelves and the baby too!
Nikki says
Your library system leaves mine in the dust. We have 7 or 8 tall bookshelves somewhat organized by author. I spent forever organizing our books as a newlywed. I had two major problems. First, dh was horrible at returning books to their location. He would remove a stack to peruse or read, then haphazardly stick them wherever he could find a spot, or worse, he'd leave them in his nightstand for months. Second, and perhaps when I gave up on keeping books ordered, were toddlers. For the past decade there has been at least one of them in our house. Currently, there are three. These little creatures wreak havoc on low lying shelves. They pull out books one by one and watch as those around them fall. They flip through a page or two and then move onto the next shelf. Adorably sweet baby now, book puller in a year or so 🙂 Then once they pass that stage, you have to figure out how to organize their books so they can get to them (my hint is to start investing in sturdy baskets now).
Rosie says
Yes, the system is definitely going to have to change a bit to accommodate the munchkin and his books. I already have the urge to buy big, sturdy baskets whenever I see them in thrift stores, so maybe this explains/justifies it?
Pippajo says
What wonderful bookcases! I have to say, bookcases are among my favorite pieces of furniture! There is something thrilling about having empty shelves yawning before me, longing to be filled! And when they are full, there is nothing more cozy-looking! And yours are beautiful! Enough exclamation points…
I love books and decorating with books, but I fear I don't have nearly enough of them to be considered either impressive or intellectual. We have most of our books in the small “extra” room we call the library which is now serving as our classroom while I'm homeschooling my 9-year-old Man-Cub. Obviously, homeschooling has added to our stash of books, but most of them elicit groans of dread instead of squeals of delight right now.
We have three bookcases (none matching each other in the least) lining the walls of the small room. I have them casually organized by use and category. The books for school are in one case and I let Man-Cub organize them however he wants…so I have no idea what's going on there. The other small case has complete book series such as the Harry Potter books, Anne of Green Gables, Chronicles of Narnia, Little House books, Lord of the Rings, etc. The rest are in the large bookcase, grouped by categories such as devotional, self-help, mystery, biography, miscellaneous fiction, etc. Of course, we all have bookcases in our bedrooms in which we have our own collections of personal favorites, but I don't really know how the children organize theirs and The Viking seems to do his best to constantly rearrange whatever system I try to utilize so I've given up in our room…
Lastly, I have to say I live for those moments of nerdy contentment. Without them, I don't know if I could get out of bed in the morning.
OH! And the baby is absolutely darling (because it can't be said enough)!
priest's wife says
Right now- I have no system whatsoever- yup- random old-country-language kids' books mixed in with 100-year old theology mixed in with do-it-yourself. So- Rosie- you have inspired me and I am tackling the books next!
We were at La Purissima mission this past week- the priests there had a library of 179 books. Can you imagine?
laceymw says
Oh dear. You put our book organization (or utter lack thereof) to shame. Many of our huge collection end up in my husband's classroom (English teacher, what can you do) and the rest are mixed up disgracefully. The baby's books in her room are much better organized but that's only by size (I wasn't sure how to implement the Dewey Decimal System by subject when dealing with Goodnight, Moon and The Hungry Hungry Caterpillar).
Joy says
Oh, I LOVE those bookcases. Maybe I'll get my handyman 15yo to make me some for my birthday present. 🙂 Of course, that would necessitate wall space, which is almost non-existent due to the numerous bookcases we already have in our house. We have between 1500-2000 books and growing (although a kindle which a friend recently gave me is helping keep the OOP books down to a dull roar). I have fiction, non-fiction, and “pretty” books in different areas (pretty books are the beautiful sets and old, gorgeous books that I put in the living room for the world to see). And all of us have bookcases in our bedrooms with our own special books.
Your baby is absolutely adorable and I loved the photos of him. I bathed all my boys in the kitchen sink, too. Make sure you bolt your tall bookcases to the wall before he starts to walk. My oldest was climbing bookcases at 14 months. When we moved to California a few years later, a friend saw our bookcases and suggested we bolt them to the walls in case of earthquakes. We laughed and said we already had done it because our earthquake's name was Luke. 🙂
Jeannie says
Gorgeous baby! Now those bookshelves have me coveting! 🙂 Or maybe my wheels are just turning…
Seriously, the bookshelves are very nice.
Camille says
We just built our first piece of furniture as well — a kid table from Ana White. It was so fun that we now have a long wish list, too!
Debbie says
OK, you asked for it: we have many thousands of books- I don't know how many, actually; we had 4,000 when I last couted at Leverett, but that was a decade and many grants and salaries ago!
I am the mad organizer, and I do it as follows: 1) Divide by subject- e.g. Ancient (Mesopotamiam, the Vedas, etc.) leading into Classics and classical history up to the late Roman Empire, which then leads into theology and Christian apologetics, transitioning into literature, etc. Within each cateogry the works are arranged by the chronological order of the authors (what did you expect from an historian?). It is very idiosyncratic, it allows me to know in which room I can find which books (e.g. Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church is in the study, but Lea's History of CLerical Celibacy is in the family room, and the Investiture Contest is in the medieval Europe section in the passageway between the study and the kitchen). I know on what shelf I can find every book, and I don't need to remember the exact place, because all I need to know is that, say, Milton comes before Dr. Johnson!
Don't go Library of Congress, whatever you do. The most sane and learned classification system ever devised was the old Widener one, and I find its methodology so much more lucid and logical than the Dewey one; the greatest library tragedy of the century has probably been the LC rejection of the old Widener one in favor of that ridiculous Dewey one. Pople who can put Islamic religion on 3-East while islamic religious poetry ends up on 6-West are not models for emulation!
Love,
D.
Debbie says
Quick PS- within the general lit. category, within periods themselves I divide by geographical region- once we pass the Medieval period into the Early Modern I divide it into English lit., followed by Scandinavian, then German, etc. So Dylan THomas, for instance, comes before Anne Bradstreet, because he appears in the british section, whereas she comes at the beginning of the American literature section.
Space: Basements are a great place for bookcases. Also, do what we did in our study: make room dividers in the middle out of back-to-back bookcases. And how wide are your hallways?
Emily says
Those are such beautiful bookcases! Unfortunately, neither my husband or I are very handy with building things. But we're tired of cheap breaking bookshelves, too, so maybe we'll overcome our unhandy tendencies. 🙂
How did you stain them once they were built? I find staining to be a frightening prospect – and there is a package of wood boxes sitting in my hallway that need to be stained! So I'd love some tips on that if you'd care to share them.
Dawn says
You have “The Giver!” You have “The Blue Sword!” I love your book cases. And of course, your goreous baby too!
jodi says
We color coded our bookshelves . storage and art all in one .I did a post on it called “when you can't sleep”.
Susan says
Lovely! I'm a big fan of Ana White's plans and built some floor to ceiling wall-to-all shelving to house our library last summer (and now we're moving unexpectedly and I have to redo them! Ack!). We have a few thousand books–I haven't counted in a few years. My husband is a professor and I was very glad when he moved about a third of the library into his office a couple years ago. I think the most short-lived thing about your system is all that low shelving with a little one! I have four children and the bottom shelves are used for toys, not books. And other bookshelves around the house are reorganized on a very regular basis. We try to keep subjects together but I'd go crazy if I tried to do more than that at this point. We do have a friend with LOC labels on his entire home library. I always do a double-take and wonder if he's racking up a lot of late fees 🙂
margo says
books organized? ha. not really, in our house. Organized means they're on shelves (because we do also have stacks in the corners and on the mantel).
Your books look lovely and it's GREAT to be married to a handy man!
You bebe looks adorable in his bath. I can't believe how fast he's growing.
PickyLibrarian says
I've relied on Ikea Billy shelves for years–had 7 crammed with books in my last apt. Moved to Boston for library school (!) 2 yrs ago and have been enjoying a spare space, leaving most of my books in boxes to see how it is to live with open shelves, more possibilities. Am not sure how I will manage combining households with my BF because he never parts with a book, mass market pb or hardcover, no matter how yellowed or torn. I think people can invest too much value in books. For me, the older I get, the less I need to live with all of the books I have ever loved. I prefer to keep a few and keep the others in circulation.
Clare says
It's not that I'm not grateful for the TV that came with the room I rented, but I never watch it. I'm looking forward to parting with with it when my friends move into their new house and can take it. Leaving me with a big space for….a third set of bookshelves…
guest says
Thank you so much to the link to Ana — I am feeling more inspired to try something out for myself. You are so lucky to have a hubby who is willing to make something. Very lucky. Please tell him “thank you” from me for serving his country and protecting me and mine as well as everyone else 🙂
Annie says
I loved that your libraries were united in Holy Matrimony. Incidentally, when our libraries were united, I didn't give up my copy of The Blue Sword, either. =)
Hollace says
I just saw a blog yesterday about someone's bookcases: she was taking a vote on whether to put the spines out or the spines inward so that only the “nice, neutral colors would show”. Apparently that is the new trend in bookcases–neutral colors. Can you imagine having all your book spines turned to the back wall? What is the point of even having books in that case? The horrible thing is that most people were voting for the neutral spine in view! Can't believe it.
We converted a small bedroom to a library. My DH put standards and shelves all around the 4 sides of the room and I made the shelves to be the same height where they meet up at the corners so it doesn't look higgledy-piggledy. I group our books thematically. Some genres grow faster than others so those shelves get more crowded, and I have just started a new plan for a shelf of “yet to read” books. If they get filed away too soon, we don't get back to read them.
Your book shelves look fab. Nice work from the Lt.
_Leila says
The only thing to be condemned more strongly than organizing by color is 'spine in.'
womanofthehouse says
I was directed to a blog not long ago in which the blogger was thrilled to find some old leather books that looked just right in her house. They weren't in English, but she didn't care~she wasn't going to read them; they were just accessories. She wanted them for their look and smell!
Debbie says
Quick PS- within the general lit. category, within periods themselves I divide by geographical region- once we pass the Medieval period into the Early Modern I divide it into English lit., followed by Scandinavian, then German, etc. So Dylan THomas, for instance, comes before Anne Bradstreet, because he appears in the british section, whereas she comes at the beginning of the American literature section.
Jackie says
We have three IKEA Billy bookcases, although only 2 are for books (plus a shelf on the third for cookbooks), I also have a low bookcase–similar to the ones your hubby built–just for the children's books. Our system is:
alphabetical by author's last name for fiction
children's books are willy-nilly on their own shelf (my 2 year-old has no respect for organization, but she only plays with HER books)
Non-fiction grouped by subject and alphabetized (by author's last name) within the subject. However, I don't use Library of Congress subject heading, I just put it where I think it should go.
Note: IKEA bookcases are not really built to last, but they do alright in a move if you take them completely apart (like they came in the box).
It is nice to know there are other OCD people out there who love their books as we do. 🙂
Hollace says
I just saw a blog yesterday about someone's bookcases: she was taking a vote on whether to put the spines out or the spines inward so that only the “nice, neutral colors would show”. Apparently that is the new trend in bookcases–neutral colors. Can you imagine having all your book spines turned to the back wall? What is the point of even having books in that case? The horrible thing is that some people were voting for the neutral spine in view! Can't believe it.
Here is the site, FYI: http://ninasnest.blogspot.com/2011/02/bookcase-be…
BakersDozen says
I just posted what I thought was a ridiculous amount of information on laundry – and someone sent me here to see that I'm not alone 🙂 I'm so glad I got to see the bookcases. I love having space on top of bookshelves. With some cute bookends, you can store even more books up there! Cute blog. Love the chickens.
Breanna says
Our books (about 2K, haven't counted since the last purge) are alphabetical by author within the categories fiction, nonfiction, medical, and engineering. (I worked in two bookstores growing up. Spent my whole paycheck.) I also keep the “pretty” books on a different shelf. I'm lucky enough to have partial sets of “The Harvard Classics”, one from 1898 and one from 1911, rusty red and dark green respectively. They make us look smart, and better yet we do read them. 🙂
I like built-ins, but it's very sad when you leave them. Which we are. So I need to come up with some bookshelf solutions pronto. Sigh.
Judy@Learning says
Gorgeous baby! And your husband's bookscases are smashing! And I love the photos along the top.
Our system has always been divided between his and hers. My husband studied history, with some particular emphases, and I majored in Eng Lit and Theatre, so our collections have very little in common. I divide my lit stuff alphabetically according to author, and…oh, it's complicated, but I know where everything is. Same for him. If we want something from the other's collection, we just ask. Poetry, though, we share. Don't ask. Hey, it works. 🙂
Juliana B says
It's so funny you should write about bookshelves right now, as we have just completed a major book cull to make room for my son's godmother, who will be moving in with us for about 6 months or so. We had to get rid of 10 boxes of books, but still have over 1000 books easily (but who is counting, really?) We put floor to ceiling built-ins in our living room (with a 10 foot ceiling!) and used the bottom half for cabinets and the top for book shelves, which house most of our books. On the second floor, we have (now) two (formerly four) book cases in the guestroom/office, that house liturgical books and some literature, and another bookcase in the middle room that houses children's books and a few books on writing that I use.
When we moved to this house, we had 60 boxes of books. When we opened everything up and started sorting, we pulled out duplicates, books that were hopelessly out of date and books that we'd probably never refer to again, getting it down to 50 boxes. Three years later, with additions and subtractions, we're probably still at 50. The trials of a dual academic family, I suppose! We love books and have a hard time parting with them.
Kindle? Bah, humbug.
Sue says
Oooh! I love, love love those shelves. My dear hubby has built two large shelves for me this winter, and I finally feel like I have most of our books in order and where I can see everything well. I have a disaster on my cheap bedside table, though, and have been asking him to build something to replace it. I was so happy to be able to show him your shelves and say, “like that, but a bit slimmer and taller, with three shelves” (we have a pretty tall bed). Whew! Now, finding the time to it is the next hurdle!
I love the baby bath photo. I miss baby baths!
mom, again says
oh dear, most of the books are still packed from our move overseas. The only ones we took with us were our 'professional' books, that is, all of my cookbooks and all of his books needed for work. The novels and childhood books and biographies and poetry were packed up and stored and are still in boxes in the garage. We need more shelves.
His work books went back to his office on campus when we came back. For mine, we have 3 IKEA billy sized shelves, 2/3 full of cookbooks, the last 1/3 being novels and such purchased since the original packing up in 2007. AND there is billy sized book case in our son's room, half filled with all of the books he has accumulated since his birth in 2007.
As someone who has moved a lot, across town, across the state, across the country and around the world: GOOD JOB on the shelves. That design would work in any room, as many across as you have the space, AND it looks like you could stack them 2 high if need be, in some other house, some time in the future. If you know more moves are in your future it's always good to have furniture that can be arranged different ways to suit and can be picked up and carried onto the truck by one person. It even looks like the books will load into one box per shelf? Or maybe two? When packing, avoid mixing up the books into packing boxes. Try to put one shelf per box, and only combine with the other shelf on the case. Fill in any empty space in the box with linens (or toys) rather than getting books from a different bookcase. It will make unpacking so much easier.
PS: You guys are in california, right? those tall bookshelves are attached to the wall, right?
Jessie says
We have our books divvied up by genre, but I don't bother putting them in alphabetical order. I'd rather they be organized by size. We've got fantasy/scifi, classics, general fiction, baby/picture books, kids chapter books, theology, language, reference, cookbooks, narrative non-fiction. CS Lewis has his own shelf, since his books fit in at least 4 different genres.
However! Once our daughter started crawling, that mostly went out the window. She loved (still loves — she's almost 2!) to tear the books off the shelves into giant piles in front of the shelves. It made more sense to us to let her do it, instead of trying to stop her every day. We started just piling the books back on their respective shelves any which way. And then, of course, every time I go to the annual library book sale, we have to either get rid of some books or live with some piles. It all feels a little futile…
Deirdre says
Would you think about beginning a catalog of your book collection? It seems like a doable task to begin at this point, whereas if you wait until you're in possession of thousands, it will be too overwhelming to begin.
It just seems like it would be useful to remember everything that you have without having to go shelf to shelf looking for it. I think of this now because I think that Mom & Pop's book collection has gotten scattered thanks to the 7 of us over many years, and now it's harder to say if that certain book is somewhere in the house, long gone, loaned out to someone, or never actually was part of the library. It's a thought…
Also, you should invest in a pretty “from the library of” stamp to mark the inside of your books. I want one of those. I LOVE seeing people's names inside books and thinking about the different history of ownership that every book has.
_Leila says
Um, excuse me? What do you imply here? Our books are PERfectly organized. Using the Widener, not the stinky Dewey Decimal, system, natch.
Actually, last year I did organize all the fiction by author, so there. Not counting the children's fiction that is upstairs outside our room or in your room…
Anna says
LibraryThing is a website that will let you catalog your bookshelves.
Kathy says
I decided the same thing you suggest (that cataloging while the collection is relatively small would be beneficial). I even bought a cue cat barcode scanner to get my whole collection into LibraryThing (as Anna suggests).
Unfortunately, I haven't really kept up with it. Haven't touched it since moving, for instance, when I got rid of some books, and obviously re-organized my shelving system. But it still makes me feel like an awesomely geeky person that I could go and update my very own library catalog!!!
Oh, and for the record, our current organization on four skinny, tall bookshelves is just in groupings. Across the middle we have all of our Harvardiana (my mom got us a complete set of the Harvard classics at a library book sale, plus a couple of fiction books, etc.). Plus, we have groupings for my academic interests (computers, language, books) and husbands (government). But that leaves us with a couple of random books that don't really fit anywhere.
At some point, I imagine we'll have the pretty books on the pretty bookshelves and I'll get to organize the other books more for function than for aesthetics (not that the current system is entirely aestheticly based, it was just a factor).
womanofthehouse says
Gorgeous bookcases! Kudos to the Lt.! That baby is pretty gorgeous too . . .
Rebecca Foxworth says
Take some leftover plywood and have the Ltcut it down to “book size”…make as many as you have books that are hidden behind the bookcase lip. Get apiece of scrapbook paper, and fold and wrap it around the plywood so the edge looks like the spine of a book. Put one behind the lip in each place that a book usually disappears. It will push the first book over just enough that it doesn't disappear. That's what we did.
Oh, and please excuse any typos or strange autocorrects… I'm commenting using an iPhone and going back to proofread is so much more trouble than it's worth!
Eva says
I love books. I love bookcases. I am always in need of more bookcases. I do not know how this happens as I am a library devotee and refuse to buy books unless I know I will read them ten times or more. My dream room is one of those big, oldfashioned libraries, with dark wood, and deep chairs, and a large desk, and a hushed atmosphere…
Despite all that, the picture I loved most was 'baby in the kitchen sink'. sorry books. Baby was looking too cute!
Mrs. Pickles says
I can totally relate!! No matter how many bookcases we own, we ALWAYS have shelves that are double-stacked! We recently bought yet another bookshelf and then totally rearranged the living room, so I had an opportunity to reorganize everything. Oh, the decisions! Do I separate C.S.Lewis between the Children's Good Fiction and the Thoughtful Religious shelves, or does he get his own shelf? What about Chesterton? And where does Calvin and Hobbes go? With all the humor books (some of which, such as Dave Barry and the Far Side, are not suitable for younger children) or on a lower shelf where the kids can reach them? It was SO much fun! I affirm you in your nerdiness. 🙂
Like you, I like to organize my bookcases according to general topic — for example we have one for homeschooling materials and books (the top shelf houses our parenting books), one for children's literature (the higher the shelf, the higher the reading level), one for grown-up literature (fiction, poetry and essays together, although each category has its own shelf — this one is still double-stacked). 🙂
Enjoy your excellent new horizontal surface! Good job, Lt.!
Angela says
I love this! I laughed and smiled because I love books too. What made me really laugh is knowing how many more books you will have soon…children's books are a delight! When we had our first baby, we weeded through and purged as many books as we could stand. Gulp…even my college books. We traded them in for Goodnight Moon and so many others. I started frequenting yard sales as the children became toddlers, and now we have mostly children's books…they are taking over, and I can't imagine ever getting rid of them. But I suppose we'll have to share most of them with someone else someday so we can make room for books as they grow up, and that is ok with me. I am making a list of favorites for the grandchildren and will try to save a few favorites for them.
l p says
Hee hee–after being forced to reorganize our books from scratch twice when moving, we DID implement the Dewey Decimal system for our home library. It's worked wonderfully to keep our books classified . . . the only problem is that when we get a new book we can't just pop it on a shelf–we need to determine a call number first!
Habou says
Philip did a wonderful job building the bookcases. I'm so impressed. My great-grandson is adorable. I bathed your mom in the kitchen sink. It is the perfect height to wash a baby.
Anna says
You really should be more careful about those baby pictures getting inserted in these posts. (SO cute!!)
I have four children, ages 8 and under. Now that we're mostly through the dismantling phase, I have a decent system going now. Most of our cheap pre-fab bookshelves are in the living room. We have one for religious books, one for adult non-religious books. That includes fiction and parenting and almanacs and whatnot. Then we have another bookshelf with five shelves. The top shelf is largely empty. The next one down has photo albums. Then a shelf of non-fiction for the kids, and the one under that are the current homeschooling books. Then there are college textbooks on the bottom.
In one of the kids' rooms, we have built in shelves in the closet. There are two or three shelves of fiction books there. The chapter books are on the 8 year old's dresser, with bookends, because she's about the only one reading them right now. Each of them has a few books by their beds. Piano books are, of course, by the piano.
That's it, I think! They have been able to keep the system up, for the most part. I go through and do a quick reshelving and straightening now and then.
Anna says
Oh, yes, I knew I was forgetting something. The currently unused school books are on shelves in the finished basement, along with the encyclopedia.
Guest Authors says
Lovely, Rosie! I only hope Pippo won't make a mess of the lower shelves once he can crawl and reach. It is my one-year-old's favorite past-time to empty off the shelves… A whole new ordering system might be in order one day… 🙂
pamk says
Happened to run across this YouTube video about organizing a bookcase. I think you will love it!
Lindsey says
I'm a frequent lurker, occasional commenter…but books and shelves are some of my favorite things to talk about.
1. Even crawlers/toddlers and bookcases CAN co-exist. You just teach them which books are “Mommy's books” to be left alone and which ones are “Baby's books” to be strewn across the floor and gnawed upon.
2. I have prominent bookshelves in my living/dining room that looked terrible when they were properly organized–too busy on the eyes. So I organized them–gasp–by color. I held on to a few general categories: fiction, history, religion. But from there, I just put like-colored books together…to the point that sometimes sequels are not even next to each other. I didn't know if I could live with it, but the rest for the eyes has made it worth it! The books in the bedrooms and lower-traffic areas are much more traditionally organized, and that's nice too!
3. My 18-month-old's books are NOT organized at all. If they all happen to be on the shelf at any given time, that's a success.
Rosie says
I'm glad you say so! I am under no illusions as to the disheveling power of toddlers, but we always had books on the shelves growing up (mostly kids books on the lower ones), and so I like to think we will be able to as well!
bibliotecaria says
As a librarian who actually works at the Library of Congress, I am gratified to find that our work was of benefit to you.
And thanks so much for the link to that site — I've been wanting precisely that kind of information to build myself some shelving. But every time I looked, it was never quite what I wanted. This site for diy furniture looks great!
Carrien says
This is me catching up on reading things. When you are tired of being constantly reminded of you imperfection. 😉
you can line the back with pretty paper, adhesive shelf paper works well, as does wall paper. I've even seen sheet music used to beautifully line the back of a china cupboard, copied of course.
Rosie says
That's a good idea – I really like that look, and I'm probably more likely to do that than finish painting the darn thing. But I'd still have to take all the books off to do it… 🙂
mel says
I'm chuckling…enjoy your shelves. Soon the baby will be organizing them for you. 🙂 I'm on my fourth toddler now. Our shelves are organized by the children in the following ways…”books that mom and dad read”, “board books down where the little people can reach them”, “school books”, and “everything else”. 🙂
Erin says
Rosie
Loved this post, picture of home libraries, and discussions of cataloguing so make me smile:)
I have my own library http://sevenlittleaustralians.blogspot.com/search…
and my husband also had to talk me out of the Dewey system:) I ended up grouping according to subjects, ie a bookcase for History, with subtopics etc. My husband has also made our bookcases, he routers a grove into the side for each shelf, this adds lots of strength. He then glues and screws each shelf in. I can put alot of weight on these shelves:)
Oh and I bought Readerware and have scanned and typed in most books, so far up to 6500, have a couple of bookcases to go. Married for 18mths with 750 books already, you'll easily have 6000 when married for 18yrs:)
Margaret Kelly says
I found this post linked from the LMLD Library project post, and I must say, I sort of like the fact that you have the Marx&Engels Reader.
Emily says
I have been dreaming of making these bookshelves ever since you posted this a few years back. The time has now come, and I’m gathering supplies! But have two questions. 1) Did you use a nail gun, or just hammer and nail? I don’t have a compressor to run a nail gun, nor do I know someone from whom I can borrow one, so I’m hoping it can be done more simply. 2) When you stained it, I’m assuming you then put a coat of polyurethane (am I using the right term?) over the stain? And then how long did you let it dry before adding the books?
These are truly beautiful. Thanks for the inspiration!
Rosie says
Oh, I’m excited for you! We don’t have the nail gun technology either, so don’t worry about that. And actually, we were just talking about the finish on those shelves, since we’d ended up with a stain/polyurethane combo product, and weren’t 100% happy with the results. It came up because my husband just made me some shelves to go above my desk in our new place, and for those (and this is what I’d recommend for the bookshelves, too) he did a normal stain then a few thin coats of polyurethane (it says on the can how long to wait between coats). Then the can says to wait 24 hours before putting the object into use but we waited longer – more like twice that – because it’s humid and waiting is terrible but messing up your hard work is worse! Good luck and send pictures!