Keeping All Those Books Straight
June 1, 2009 by Katelyn Thomas
Filed under Home & Living
We like books in my house. We like them a lot. But, with a love of books comes a big problem – organization and storage. How do you store all those books without looking like a mini library? Some friends of mine decided that looking like a mini library was the way to go and have an actual library with rows of shelves in their basement. I love visiting, but I wanted something a bit less libraryish for my home.
Photo: SXC
I do have a bookshelf in most rooms, but I try to limit it to one. I treat my books like my closet. I keep a few sentimental favorites and the rest have to be read or consulted sometime in the past year to make the cut. I also have three baskets of books. One for library books and one for each kid. They love to flip through the baskets and having one for the library books enables me to keep track of the books and to avoid having them get mixed in with our personal books.
Now, if I could just fall out of love with the smell and feel of actual books, with the magic of opening a cover and finding a new world in the pages inside, I could get an e-book reader, like the Kindle through Amazon.com and have all of my books stored electronically. So far, it just isn’t for me, though.
How do you keep your books straight?
ah I wish I could fall in love with e-books too…but I love love the feel of having the real book. They are so nice to look at.
Definitely it’s so hard to keep them in great shape. I have a very nice bookshelf made to store them. The bookshelves have glasses to keep the dust away from my books. I also check them from time to time if somecreepy crwawler is getting on them.
I recently went to a design lecture about books and how to unclutter your life with them. I have a passion for them, so I am going the way of actually creating a music/library sanctuary. However, what I did learn was to sort through your books, and check to check for damaged, broken, mouse-chewed, ripped or waterstained books. If they fall into any of these categories, you can dump,sell or recycle them. Sometimes there are some great prints and art in childrens books that can be framed. I know e-books are becoming more popular, but I will always prefer the feel of a book in my hands, so I can cuddle up with it and spend the afternoon.
I have two bookshelves in my living room full of non-fiction books. I do a lot of research and writing so I am always grabbing these books looking for obscure info. I have a passion for vintage gardening and crafting books.
All my friends and family tell me that my books look brand new. I take very good care of them. There are some days I wish we could go to all ebooks. I have a collection of those too.
My Fiction books I keep in three Rubbermaid storage boxes. One is large and my other two are small. I have a box full of autograph books from my friends. My other boxes hold my paperbacks and hardbacks. I cull through them often. I keep them out I will get writer’s block. Not joking.
I cull through my books when I buy new ones.