May 11, 2016 
Stacey 
When I moved into my house almost 7 years ago, I told myself I’d have to build bookshelves to store all my books. As the years wore on and the kids got bigger, the book piles did too. I now have books, both ones I’ve represented and ones I’ve bought or been given, in every corner of my home.
Finally, the bookshelf project has come to fruition (see below) and I now find myself with two very large empty built-in bookcases and a big question of how to fill them.
I’d love some help from our blog readers. How do you store your books? Are they organized by category, color, alphabetical or some combination? I love those photos I’ve seen of spines organized by color so the shelves have a rainbow effect, but it seems so impractical to me as someone who will likely be adding books on a regular basis.
Because I represent books in many categories for both children and adults, it seems that might be the way to go. As one of my friends pointed out, though, because this is the first thing you see when you walk in my house, the books should be for display rather than for storage purposes. My instinct initially was to cram as many books as possible in to the shelves, but I think she has a point. Maybe this is a case where less is more. Below you’ll see some of the books I’ve represented that I currently have stacked on my piano.
I also like the idea of doing a combination of horizontal and vertical stacks. Should there be a pattern to that?
Would love to know what you think and how you display your books. Please feel free to send photos along. I love the visuals. And if anyone would like to volunteer to come help with what feels like an overwhelming project, please let me know!
This is fun and interesting, Stacey. I hope you gain a wide variety of ideas. I have so many books, from a 17th century description of the world (says that New York is a large town with ‘above 500 well built houses’), Punch Almanacks from 1830s to 1880s …right up to the latest picture books – and they jammed inelegantly into spaces. But they are arranged by genre. Sort of.
All books in my collection are for reading or reference, so even if I had the available space for ‘minimalism’, I’d prefer not to display them as though I had bought them simply for house decoration …to fit into a colour scheme or make up an artistic arrangement.
If you want to do something really different and eye-catching, you could stack them close and paint a giant picture over all the spines, in the fashion of Mike Stilkey. Put his name in a Google image search.
I’ve shown some of Mike’s large and small book-stacks at the end of a blog post on book covers: http://writing-for-children.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/book-cover-design-ideas.html
including a three book stack with the design flowing from cover to spines to cover across all books in what could be a series. I’m surprised that publishers don’t do this encourage readers to purchase the whole set.
Thanks, Peter. That Mike Stilkey book art is amazing and I hadn’t seen it before!
This is how I divided mine:
Hardback adult fiction
Softcover adult fiction
Hardcover Children’s/YA
Softcover Children’s/YA
Series
Nonfiction (I don’t divide them because I haven’t got that much)
Plays
Misc.
Reference
Then I alphabetize each category and put them on the shelves. I also pare down regularly, giving books away to happy readers. Don’t pack them in because you’ll need room for more!
Thanks, Joelle. I like this. It’s simple and practical and along the lines of what I’m thinking too.
The books in my bedroom are displayed in a combination of the first and third picture. They are in reverse rainbow beginning with violet and ending with pink bleeding into white and then black. On each shelf I flip a group of books horizontally for eye appeal. But the shelves and tables in my main rooms are for visual display. I add art and personal trinkets from trips to make it all look pretty. Though if someone removed a book to read it, it would not upset me. I love to see people read. Hope this helps.
Sounds so pretty! Would love to see a photo. Not sure if you can post photos here, but you can email me at sglick@dystel.com. Thanks.
That is a gorgeous bookcase!
I organize by fiction/non-fiction/reference (boring) but I’m inspired by this post to make a rainbow. I love rainbows. Christine’s idea is perfect for a living room.
Hmm.
Thanks! Agree rainbow is so fun. I had a friend who did it years ago and I never forgot it. Mostly women’s fiction, I feel like those books have the most color.
My books are stored in cheap, assemble-it-yourself bookshelves in my upstairs hallway. This is purely functional, as it’s right outside my office and bedroom and not an area that visitors see.
They are categorized thus:
Encyclopedias
Dictionaries, thesauruses (English)
Other reference, English
Reference, other languages
Reference, geography and travel
Biographies
Religion
History
Classics of literature
Will Durant’s 11-volume history of civilization
A separate bookcase holds items that serve as reference materials for my in-progress writing projects. And a final case holds my completed writing projects, in binders.
Thanks for sharing your book storage stories. Sounds like you have quite a collection!
Hmmm… Isn’t that a 30-inch plasma screen TV above what appears to be a fireplace in the center? Not sure if I’d combo that; the effect of the flames would be distracting during the scene where Fred Astaire’s singing in the rain and a prolonged cold winter could warp your screen. Bit of a feng shui conundrum, I’d say. (We should all have headaches like that)
Good point!
Pssst. ‘Twasn’t Fred Astaire, ’twas Gene Kelly.
Although George Murphy also did it. And so did, Fred, come to think of it, though he was under a gazebo. Gene and George both got wet.
Thanks for all the great comments. I see there are so many thoughts and ideas that go into book storage. Feel free to send pictures either here or to my email sglick@dystel.com.
And there are some great bookends at http://www.artoridesign.com/hom-decor/bookends.html