July 29, 2012

Building Bookshelves Part II

Back in June I posted about my new bookshelves that I was so proud of - you can see that post here if you missed it - and how I was excited to finally unpack my many boxes of books that had patiently been waiting in storage for the past eight months. The boxes have been unpacked and the shelves are finally full, so I thought I would share some photos of my bookshelves with you! Seeing other people's bookshelves is one of my favourite things to do when I go over to someone's house. It's interesting to see what others like to read and what books they choose to keep and display on their shelves.

Here's a before picture:

Pre-books and pre-secured to wall


If I didn't have a husband, I probably would have left the shelves all uneven and a potential safety hazard like that. Good thing I do have a husband, because now the three pieces look more like one big piece.

My library in all it's glory!
I actually purged approximately 4 large boxes of books this time around. I used to keep everything I have ever read, but now I get rid of the books I didn't like and would therefore either never re-read or never lend to someone else to read. I also purged a lot of books that I've out grown - like all the Candace Bushnell books (sorry to any Candace Bushnell fans!).

Here's a close-up:


Right now, I've organized the books alphabetical by author, with all genres mixed together. I've always wanted to try this, but I find it hard to really customize my shelves this way. I like to organize the books based on their appearance or colour. Either way, I feel it's an evolving process and will continually change as I accumulate more books! I also, reluctantly, had to give the husband two shelves for his books (right side, fourth and fifth shelf from the top). He's not even a reader, yet he had almost enough (unread) books to fill two shelves!

Here's a few close-ups of my favourite shelves so far:

My beloved thrift store finds, including an old Fisher Price 'The Woman Who Lived in a Shoe' Shoe.



My collection of well-loved paper-backs that take me back to my young teen years.
My husband and I LOVE pirates and will pretty much buy any pirate book we ever come across!


How do you organize your books on your bookshelves? Do you have a system? Which books do you decide to keep, and which ones do you decide need to go?


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18 comments:

  1. Kristilyn (Reading in Winter)July 30, 2012 9:18 am

    Brie!! I'm sooo jealous! (<-- I've been saying that a lot lately, haven't I?) They're perfect and so pretty! I have a matching set of bookcases, but they're very light coloured and not very deep -- these ones are such a pretty colour!

    I love looking at other peoples' books too, though I do wish mine were a little more "present" in the house. I have a room on the second floor we call the library and there are 4.5 bookcases in there and one outside in the hallway, so unless you know to go upstairs, you don't get to see all my pretty books!

    As for keeping books, I'm a wee bit of a hoarder, but I definitely can get rid of books. I actually have a bag I'm bringing to the meet up to pawn off onto you guys! I also donate some to the library, but those are usually the ones that I hated reading (like the Swoon series) and just want off my shelves. I wish I had more from when I was growing up, though.

    Thank you for sharing!

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    1. Brie @ A Slice of BrieJuly 30, 2012 1:00 pm

      Haha, thanks Kristilyn! I love them too, but a part of me wishes I had gotten the white ones. We have a small loft space upstairs in our home, and I debated making that space my library, but then I didn't know what I would use my current library's space for...plus, I love being able to look over at them during the day and I like that people can see them when they are over. And like you said - unless you go upstairs, who's going to see them? :)

      Yes! I can't wait to see your bag of books lol. I have some in my trunk too that you guys can have dibs on before I donate them!

      Thanks for stopping by :)

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    2. Kristilyn (Reading in Winter)July 30, 2012 1:23 pm

      "I love being able to look over at them during the day." (<-- thank GOODNESS I'm not the only one who does this!)

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  2. Jennifer BJuly 30, 2012 11:15 am

    Your bookshelves remind me of mine - love the little odds and ends and randomly stacked books. They add such visual interest to the shelves. Our upstairs shelves have Hermione's wand, Gryffindor and Slytherin "steins", a bronze salamander (to protect against house fires, which is apparently a Scottish tradition), and a gold dubloon we got on a tall ship in Victoria the day after we got engaged (speaking of a love of pirates...)

    As far as how the books are arranged, right now we have three different spaces for our books. Upstairs in our sitting room, we have all of our hardcovers and the "smart" books I use to impress guests with my obvious intelligence. ;) I've also included some paperbacks that I love, mostly from certain fantay authors. Our office has all of our graphic novels and manga, and then in our downstairs bedroom, we have a bookshelf for any leftovers - the rest of our paperbacks, schoolbooks, and miscellaneous books that didn't make the cut for upstairs. Eventually, we'd like to have a floor-to-ceiling shelf (complete with ladder) built in our basement for all our books, dvds, and records, but for now, I'm loving my upstairs living room as our quasi-library.

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    1. Brie @ A Slice of BrieJuly 30, 2012 1:06 pm

      I've always liked little odds and ends on my bookshelves too. I want a bronze salamander now! lol

      I have another (smaller) bookshelf that I'm in the middle of repainting, which will go upstairs in one of the spare bedrooms - my collection of Trixie Belden books will go on it and I'll probably move all my children's books up to it too. I do have a pile of miscellaneous books too, like business books, some workout books, school textbooks, etc that will need it's own shelf somewhere else in the house. We decided to for-go an actual "office" in this house as the one in our last house ended up being a dumping ground for said miscellaneous things lol! That and, neither of us work from home. I like to have books all over the house though, so I'm ok with bookshelves in every room :)

      Also, floor-to-ceiling shelves with a ladder is my ultimate dream!!

      Thanks for stopping by! Maybe I'll meet your dog AND snoop your bookshelves one day ;)

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  3. AnonymousJuly 30, 2012 11:44 am

    Did you put name plates in your books? Have you developed a lending system? I've organized my books by subject (religion, biography, & made-into-movies are a few). I just have an ugly Ikea bookcase though, yours is so pretty!

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    1. Brie @ A Slice of BrieJuly 30, 2012 1:10 pm

      Funny you should ask this - I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I used to be super-anal about my books and not only tried to keep them in perfect condition, but wouldn't ever lend them out either. Now, I love when books look well-loved and have some character to them (hence my love of thrift store finds). I am going to start putting in book plates, but I haven't decided if I want a stamp or stickers...I also love when there are inscriptions inside books, like when someone gifts a book, so anytime I receive a book as a gift, I make the person write in it to me ;)

      I have no lending system and I only recently started lending my books.

      Do you put name plates in?

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  4. Kara from BookosaurJuly 30, 2012 12:05 pm

    I agree - I love looking at other people's bookshelves! Unfortunately, most of my books have been in storage for going on two years now ... but once October rolls around they are all being unpacked and put back where they belong - on display! I think I'm going to try to organize them by colour. Love your shelves, by the way :)

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    1. Brie @ A Slice of BrieJuly 30, 2012 1:13 pm

      My books feel for your books. I thought 8 months was a long time! It also didn't help my book-buying habit, that's for sure :)

      I've always wanted to organize by colour! I even have a picture pinned on pinterest of a bookshelf organized by the colours of the rainbow. Would you take off all the hardcover dust jackets then? I'd love to do that too one day.

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  5. RedJuly 30, 2012 12:41 pm

    The bookshelves look so nice all filled in! Love seeing your shelves! And how very kind of you to give up some space for your husband

    My current organization system is haphazard. I keep all the books and mostly put them on a shelf that has space

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    1. Brie @ A Slice of BrieJuly 30, 2012 1:16 pm

      I wouldn't mind giving him the space if he actually read books! His intentions are good, but he's not much of a reader, unless you count newspapers, magazines and business books ;) He read the first 30 pages of the Hunger Games before he declared: "BOOOOOORING." I said he was lucky we were already married ;)

      I like to move things around on my shelves, so I'm sure it won't be long before it's all disorganized too.

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  6. AmburHostynJuly 30, 2012 9:29 pm

    Those are gorgeous shelves! :D And they look fantastic all full like that. :) My shelves don't really have any organizational system right now. I pretty much group them by series and author and then wherever they fit the best. Like all hardcovers of the same height on one shelf, and the skinny paperbacks on top or something like that...it also doesn't help that my shelves are currently overflowing. haha :P

    Thanks for sharing your full shelves with us, and for linking to the building of them. :D It definitely looks like fun, and I loved the Saigon bits! :D

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    1. Brie @ A Slice of BrieJuly 31, 2012 11:15 am

      Thanks, Ambur! This is the first time I've ever really organized them - it's a lot easier when you are taking them out of boxes to do so! This just reminded me that my husband actually took pictures of me amongst the stacks of books as I was organizing them into piles on the ground, oops.
      They won't stay this neat forever though, especially since I'm constantly accumulating more books!

      Thanks for stopping by! :)

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    2. AmburHostynAugust 01, 2012 11:44 pm

      You're welcome! :D I might just have to do that myself...if they're all in boxes or in huge piles and have to be put on shelves, you might as well organize them I guess. ;) haha You'll have to do another post with those ones. :D Awe, well they look good now...and you have photo evidence to prove it, so that's good enough. :D

      You're welcome! :D

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  7. AnonymousJuly 31, 2012 10:12 pm

    You did a beautiful job!

    My books are shoved in a closet... I had a nice bookshelf set up in the old house, with little objects between books. I had mine arranged by appearance - hard covers, soft covers, by size and colour, etc.

    I pretty much stopped buying books in 2008, other than the odd second hand find. I had to save money for our wedding, and books was an obvious cut. I started using the library, and that's still my main source of books. I also read e-books now, as it allows me to read one-handed (i.e. while breastfeeding.)

    I'm reading a physical book that I own for the first time in a long time, because I picked it up at the book swap! I have to say, there's something special about it...

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    1. Brie @ A Slice of BrieAugust 01, 2012 6:53 pm

      Thanks, Laura!

      Well, what happened to the nice bookshelf??! Did you get rid of most of your books? I definitely prefer to get my books from thrift stores when I can! And I've heard from a lot of my friends that e-readers are great for when breastfeeding. Makes sense!

      Will you be coming to the meet-up? I will have a box of books for you guys to go through and I'm pretty sure Kristilyn will too!

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  8. ChristineAugust 02, 2012 3:18 pm

    Love them! It's always so nice when people add a few personal touches.

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    1. Brie @ A Slice of BrieAugust 03, 2012 6:40 pm

      Thanks, Christine! Next to my dog, they're kinda my babies ;)

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