As a shy, introverted child, I had a hard time making friends, so I often escaped into books to pass the time. A good book is an old friend; one to return to and reread again and again.
My husband loves books as well, so between us, we have a lot of books!
I've tried putting bookshelves in every room and separating my books by genre, but it was frustrating when I'd search for a particular book...which room was it in again?
I felt my books really wanted to be together, all in one place; to be perused as a collection.
This was my latest attempt at a home library...mismatched bookcases, piles of books that didn't fit on the shelves, games and photo albums, a table filled with scrapbooking supplies and a Papasan chair. And, a lot of my favorite books were in another room, on shelves in the basement!
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| A close up of the clutter |
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| The bigger picture |
First, all of the scrapbooking supplies were packed up and relocated and the table removed. It's best when possible, to use a room for only one purpose or to declare separate zones. The opposite half of this long narrow room has a desk for a home office space.
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| Scrapbooking overload |
Then the sorting began...first by genre.
I removed the white bookcase, as it didn't match the others, and suffered a small injury when a shelf unexpectedly fell off. When organizing, ask for help!
I donated 136 books that I no longer wanted - no joy lost there, and took another bag of books to a used bookstore and made a few $!
Then I sorted my books by color. I've always dreamed of a color-coordinated library!
Ta-Dah! All books sorted by genre and color.
I brought in the wing back chair from our living room, the antique lamp is from a bedroom and all the shelving matches better! No piles, no games, no scrapbooking supplies.
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| Before |
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| After |
Instead, a cozy corner library with all my books in one clutter free place.
Now to find some pretty artwork, a small decorative rug and a vase of fresh flowers to finish off the space.
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| And look at all the bookmarks that were hiding in my books! Bonus!
Where do you keep your favorite books? Do you have them organized a particular way?
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4 comments:
I've been a bookworm since a young age. I'm embarrassed to say that all my favorite books (I have many - Dickens, Austen, Shakespeare, and Bronte, etc.) are either hiding in dreadful cardboard boxes or piled on metal utility shelves in the upstairs spare bedroom, waiting for the day when I have my "dream" house. I've always envisioned having a home with a real library or book room; cozy and welcoming. Once again your post has inspired me to take the time to organize and MAKE it happen now!
What a great improvement - and carving out a quiet reading nook is heavenly! I wonder if the space is wide enough to create an even cozier nook by placing tallest bookcase perpendicular as a divider, and stepping down with the next smaller shelf? Will the smallest unit stack atop the one beneath the window on the far wall, in the corner, creating a space for your lamp, tea cup, fresh flowers to the left of your comfy reading chair? You've inspired me to carve out my own comfy, cozy reading nook!
To clarify, left as seated in your comfy chair!
Such good ideas, thank you for sharing! I ended up replacing the 2 bookcases that are stacked with 1 tall recently thrifted bookcase ($5). I've put 1 of the 2 in back of the chair to surround the space, and the other at the left end - so the chair sits inside a U shape library AND I now have a nice shelf for my flowers, tea and lamp as you so kindly suggested. I'll post an update once I get the new pictures hung! Best success with creating your nook. It's become a favorite spot for me to read and journal.
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