I’ve been talking a lot about books lately, and not just because I sell them for a living, but because my vast collection almost killed me recently. Let me explain. We’ve been discussing having built-in bookshelves built in my living room since we moved into our house five years ago. We are finally ready to embark upon the project which also entails a somewhat extensive fireplace renovation so it’s not an entirely straightforward job. I was recently interviewing a contractor and when he walked into my home office, he looked at the bookshelves I have built-in above my desk (which I had a company install when we moved in) and told me that they were about to collapse, full of hundreds of copies of books I’ve represented over the years. I hate to think what might have happened if those shelves collapsed while I was working at my desk, as I do so much of the time, but it would not have been good! Here is a picture of what one of the brackets looked like which were barely holding the shelves in place:

So, I’ve been doing a lot of research on book storage, bookshelves and the like and I’m wondering if any of our readers can share pictures of their own book storage solutions, either at home or online if you have an aspirational shelving unit in mind. I’m thinking about fun, contemporary concepts rather than straightforward wood shelves, although we’re considering that too. Metal, distressed wood, or a combination of the two are ideas I’m considering. Meantime, I have my books displayed on our piano, which I kind of like and will probably keep newer titles there even after we get the shelves built. See pic below:

Please let me know how you like to store your books at home. As added incentive, I will offer a free book to add to your shelf, and pick the winner at random on March 25^th. Thanks for your input and good luck!