Book storage as art

[firecat]

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2012/03/bookshelf-heaven-awesome-containers-for.html

I discovered by looking at this post that I don't really approve of organizing books by the color of their spines.

Also, "a deeply comforting amount of books that we will never be able to read in its entirety in our lifetimes"? I saw maybe one image that had that many books.

I like the stretchable ones toward the bottom of the page, which are also discussed here:
http://gizmodo.com/5100849/platzhalter-bookshelf-splits-to-store-extra-books

Comments

[ironed_orchid]

I discovered by looking at this post that I don't really approve of organizing books by the color of their spines.

I guess if, and only if, I have a colour decoding key to figure out where the book I want is on the shelf, then it might work. But on the whole I prefer to stick to things like category, genre, and author.

I do like the book arranging video, partly because they put everything back.

[laughingrat]

Books as decoration always makes me shudder a little bit.

[fyreharper]

Unless it's that one's decorating theme is books because they are the best thing and one can never have too many bookshelves full of wonderful delicious books :D But yes, the ones that are just there for pretty instead of for reading are so sad...

[the_siobhan]

I used to work with a woman who said that she didn't allow books in her house because they were too "messy" - all those non-matching heights and colours.

She let her kids have a single shelf in their rooms and if they bought a new book an old one had to go. I was so horrified.

[firecat]

No kidding. This is one of the reasons why we need libraries.

[selki]

If it bugs her so much, she should just hang curtains in front of the bookshelves like a friend of mine does!

[elainegrey]

We have a "share books" bookshelf in the office, and i made the top shelf a gradient of colors one day waiting for lunch to heat. It has stayed that way a long time, so perhaps the next time i'm waiting alone for my lunch to zap, i'll jumble the books into a different order.

While my design mind likes many of those shelving units, most of my reaction is that what i really want is very dense but accessible storage.

[firecat]

Apparently I think organizing one shelf by color is fine but organizing a whole collection that way isn't.

I organize mine by general category, then size comes into it because I can get more on a shelf that way.

[elainegrey]

I decided i'd start organizing the office book-trade shelf by publication date. (It's always possible someone else will put it back in color order: i can't believe it's stayed ordered that way so long.)

[firecat]

:-)

[jinian]

Some people clearly do not have or read remotely as many books as I do. A lot of that shelving so inefficient that it can only be considered lightly book-themed decoration.

[pyrzqxgl.livejournal.com]

Wow!

I didn't care so much for the stretchable ones, because it would seem to me you could just use that space to put more of them side by side in the first place.

[firecat]

I definitely see your point, but I've often found myself out of storage space in my existing shelves and not wanting to go buy more shelves, so it appealed from that perspective.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

IMO all of those are for people who care more about looking like they have books than about having books. Several of them would fail if you actually tried to read any of the books, because they use the books as structural elements.

[firecat]

I definitely don't approve of using readable books as structural elements.

Or vinyl records melted into the shape of bowls, or typewriter key bracelets or...

[graymalkin13.livejournal.com]

Some of those designs are very clever. I like the whimsy of the books hanging from the ceiling. The digitally fabricated, wavy wood shelves are lovely and remind me of Gaudi. But all the oddly shaped and curvy designs make me dizzy -- seriously. The one closest to my personal aesthetic is the slightly gothic-looking nook with the black shelves and red chair. Most of the nooks wouldn't work for me because I don't like small spaces, like under a stairway.

I definitely enjoy having ""a deeply comforting amount of books that we will never be able to read in its entirety in our lifetimes" -- which is why I have bookcases in every room and piles of books on every surface in my house. I'd love to have a large, elegant, traditional sort of library space for them all. (You know -- with Persian rugs and paintings and chaises longues.) There are many pictures of such spaces in At Home With Books by Caroline Seebohm.

I don't really approve of organizing books by the color of their spines.

Heh! Actually, aesthetics does affect how I arrange my books. I spend a lot of time arranging a bookcase that will be visible according to book size and color, and whether a book is hardcover or paperback. Books I don't like to look at go on shelves in a closet. Once I get a bookcase arranged, it usually stays much the same for years. So when I get new books, they pile up until I have the space to make a new shelf for them. Sometimes I like to prop a book with a beautiful cover up against the rest of the books on a shelf -- just like in a bookstore. I lerrrrrrve my books.

Remember when the only books I would have visible on my bookcases had black covers? :-)

[firecat]

The curvy ones make me a bit woozy too.

I'd love to have a large, elegant, traditional sort of library space for them all. (You know -- with Persian rugs and paintings and chaises longues.)

I'd love to come hang out with you there.

At Home With Books by Caroline Seebohm

Oh cool, it's at the library. I'll go look at it sometime.

Actually, aesthetics does affect how I arrange my books.

I'm not surprised! :-) I don't disapprove of that. I just disapprove of the rainbow spines thing. I'm sure you would do something much more creative.

[graymalkin13.livejournal.com]

I don't disapprove of that. I just disapprove of the rainbow spines thing. I'm sure you would do something much more creative.

Oh yeah, I didn't think you disapproved of the kind of thing I do. I agree about the rainbow spines. I didn't find that appealing at all.

I think we are both far too woozy already. :-)

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

At my reading speed, almost any of those shelves would be enough to last me a lifetime if I actually read them all and started out having not read them all.

(Of course, the problem with that idea is that I *already* have a lifetime of books to read, for me, in my own collection at home, but that doesn't stop me wanting and buying new ones, or not feeling like reading any of the things I have waiting at a given moment.)

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

"a deeply comforting amount of books that we will never be able to read in its entirety in our lifetimes"

Perhaps they meant all the books in the entire post? I'd have trouble getting through all those, despite reading nearly a book a week.