But the best part?
It has a room with built in bookshelves. A LIBRARY YOU GUYS. Basically I was like
Ahem.
So we're moving my 5089 boxes of books and I start putting them on the shelves and I'm feeling okay but not great about my shelving system. Then I started to hit bumps like where certain things OBVIOUSLY don't belong but I don't have other spots for them...so now what?!
So help a girl out. How do you organize your shelves? Do you sort by to-read? By genre? By author? HALP.
I have no idea, but that is AMAAAZING! We have an extra room in our house that we use for a tv room/ home office. Someday though.... once we don't have little people in our house (you know... like 20 years) and the unlikely chance that we'll still be in this house.... it will become a library! :) Enjoy it!!
ReplyDeleteFunny you mention that - this room is going to double as our nursery as the other bedrooms are upstairs!
DeleteMay you get the library you dream of one day!
As of right now I only have two bookshelves and they aren't together. So one has all my paperbacks in alphabetical order and the other has all my hardcovers in alphabetical order. Good luck my friend, I'm super jealous. Share a picture when you are all moved in.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Alphabetical is certainly something I'm considering, and I like the idea of separating the paperbacks and hard covers.
DeleteYou know I'll be taking pictures! :-)
Because my books are spread across several rooms in several houses, my methods might not work for you.
ReplyDeleteIn my bedroom at my apartment, I have a "favourites" shelf - aka the books I love so much and want to wake up to. Upstairs at my apartment, I have my "to read" shelves - ARCs organized by pub date and then finished copies organized alphabetically.
At my parents' house in my old bedroom, I have my general collection. It used to be alphabetical, but now it's just piles and piles of books that I've read at my apartment and stored with my parents, hah!
Jeez, Google. I am totally known. What a liar.
DeleteThis is Tara-Hobbitsies, FYI.
Can I just tell you I totally knew who this was before this reply? I just knew! Mwahaha.
DeleteOkay, so here's the deal. In our living room, I totally organized our books by color so it would be pretty. BUT -- if the books are in a series, they got grouped together. I just wanted my books to be aesthetically pleasing and not just a big mess. So yeah. There's that! TAKE PICTURES. I need to see the final product! :)
ReplyDeleteI am totally leaning towards color. Even over author. I'm so glad you get me.
DeleteI'm telling you, lady! It's pretty. And somehow, I still remember where the books are -- it's like organizing them this way engrained the covers (and spines) in my head or something. :) So glad we're on the same page (haha, see what I did there?)
DeleteYes, I'm a dork! xo
Honestly, my sorting is more of the aesthetic variety. I'll group books based on colour and size. I've also added fun knick-knacks and baskets full of DVDs and audiobooks to my shelves just to break it up. But when I'm feeling more sensible, I tend to group books by genre then by series.
ReplyDeleteReally, there is no right or wrong way to do this so I'd suggest going with what feels most natural or whatever way makes it easiest to find the books you're looking for. Either way, having your own personal library totally rocks! Can we say, envious? Good luck, Lisa and congrats!
I'm thinking color and size too! And if that gets too frustrating to find things, I can redo! Oh and of course putting non bookish things among them is a great idea!
DeleteOoooh, enjoy organizing your books! Mine are separated into kids lit, YA, adult fiction and non-fiction, and then alphabetical within those categories. When I have a house one day, I'd love to break it up a bit more by genre, mainly so that my books aren't all mixed in with hubby's horror books :)
ReplyDeleteI started to do by genre, but it hurts my brain! Ha! But maybe I'm over thinking it. :-P
DeleteI sort mine alphabetically by author (it's the librarian in me!) I also turn the ones I haven't read yet upside down on my shelf. Yeah, I'm kinda weird.
ReplyDeleteI think that sounds cool!
DeleteMine are all back in boxes since I moved back into my parent's house (sadface) but when I had them out and displayed I went the aesthetic route. Mine were all just shelved based on color so it was like walking up to a giant rainbow of love. Okay, that sounds ridiculous, but I loved it.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds ridiculously AWESOME.
DeleteI'm so happy for you that you've got a library in your new house! *does happy dance* *twirls*
ReplyDeleteAHEM.
Well, let's see. In my childhood home, where all my books live, I organize things by genre, then series. I do have a video with the shelves coming up!
But here in NY, where my book collection isn't quite as large, I organize them into shelves - one for ARCs, one for PB and one for HC. Then they're organized by height :)
Can't wait for the video!
DeleteI organize mine like a bookstore: by author's last name. It's so much easier to find exactly what I'm looking for that way!
ReplyDeleteThat would be the smartest, for sure!
DeleteFirst of all, CONGRATULATIONS! I'm going to go die of envy now. ;)
ReplyDeleteAs for organization, I sort by genre, then author by last name.
Thank you, thank you!
DeleteI have two bookshelves. One holds the books I read, and the other holds my soon-to-be-read-maybe-in-this-lifetime-books. I have no order on either of these bookshelves, what so ever. It's actually quite frustrating lol. On the top shelf of my read bookshelf, I have my "favorite" signed books. But that's basically the only organization I got going on.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you bought a new house??!! Dude. We need to discuss other things than toilet pictures in our emails, haha.
I do like a favorite shelf, and separating by read and to read...
DeleteBUILT IN BOOKSHELVES?! Ahhh, now THAT is a dream come true. Also, YAY for a new house. That's awesome. :)
ReplyDeleteI shelve mine generally by genre, and I keep authors together within the genre. I have a big bookshelf but it's currently overflowing. I'd ideally love a second bookshelf JUST for YA books but alas.
Molli | Once Upon a Prologue
It really is awesome. Thanks, Molli!
DeleteSince there are shelves bigger than others I put in one shelf small books and another bigger books. I'm a bit short, so I always try to put my books read in the shelf which is higher in the bookcase. I also have a shelf with a lot of crystal decoration in front of the books, so I put there the books I read too.
ReplyDeleteYes! As a shorty myself, I really like that idea.
DeleteI AM TOO JEALOUS TO COMMENT OTHER THAN OMG THAT IS MY DREAM! BOOKSHELVES! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteSeriously. It is insane!
DeleteI don't own tons and tons of books, but I definitely own quite a few. I always organize by author's last name - alphabetically. Of course, I'm a librarian, so I can't really imagine shelving any other way. I don't separate into different genres, or TBR piles. I interfile them, because I think it's easier to find them that way. That's just me though.
ReplyDeleteI do decidate a shelve for library books that I obviously don't shelve with my own books.
Have fun setting up house, and good luck!
Thank you! I value your organization skillz as a librarian!
DeleteYOU HAVE A LIBRARY. I AM JEALOUS AND WANT PICTURES. Ahem.
ReplyDeleteThis is the kind of pickle that makes me EXCITED. Because, one, you get to organize something FROM SCRATCH. No reordering or reshelving, which I feel like is often partly determined by the way things already are to save yourself work and time. Two, we can get into the nitty greedy of book nerdiness here. I LOVE IT.
For my own shelves, I have lots in different rooms, and they're basically organized by the more I love them, the closer they are to my bedroom, where I have a shelf with my FOREVER MOST favorites. All my bookshelves are two rows deep on each shelf, with the books I can see myself grabbing again or more frequently on the outside. I ALWAYS organize by author. Not alphabetically, which makes me feel like I should turn in my library degree for that, but I keep one author's books all together. If they're series books, I put the series books in order from right to left (I KNOW BACKWARDS), and the older series furthest to the right. (I am weirdly specific, which I didn't realize until just now.) But even if I had the time and energy to take ALL my books off my shelves and reshelve them, I'd probably not alphabetize them. Because then some of my favorites would be further out of my reach, and I don't like that, lol.
I seriously can't be happier for you that you got a new house AND that it has a library!!! :-)
Thank you! I have a feeling my system will be equally cray, but make sense to me!
Deletealways alpha by author last name. none of this dewey decimal business by subject
ReplyDeleteI think it would be the coolest to use Dewey decimal at home!
DeleteBuilt ins? I hate you. haha.
ReplyDeleteYAY NEW HOUSE! :) Pictures, please!
Coming soon!
DeleteFor the record, I must say I am jealous. I would advise three things:
ReplyDelete1. Separate paperbacks and hardbacks.
2. Keep books from the same author together.
3. Subject or alpha order works, but keep a special section for your personal favorites. Those do not have to be in any kind of order.
One more thing: have fun!
B.
I am all about a favorites shelf!
DeleteHehe, LOVE IT. I grew up with a room like this, and I miss it like you wouldn't believe (heck, most of my books are still on those shelves in my parent's house). Honestly, I have a tiny apartment and hardly any shelf room atm, so I kind of just shove them in wherever, but I've always wanted to organize by color (someday...when I have a room like yours).
ReplyDeleteI keep current reads and to TBR on separate shelves. Everything else I tend to shelf by genre first, then alphabetically. Of course, I always keep series together and in order as well. Also, I've been known to shelve favorites together and go down the line to least favorite- then I now immediately which books I'm ready to donate because the least favorites are all together.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, that is so exciting! :D I have:
ReplyDeleteone complete bookcase filled with my favorite books. 2 shelves filled with Stephen King and Dean Koontz. Followed by my YA English books. Two bookcases with English books on alphabet :)
OMG! This is SO AWESOME. I have a built in wardrobe instead of shelf. Still can't complain though ;)
ReplyDeleteI arrange it by height and size so it doesn't look all messed up. :D
Fara @ Tumbling In Books
I can't help you at all because I re-organize my bookshelves like every month. There is a small bookshelf in my room, and those are always favorites. Right now, though, I've moved everything around and the ones in my room are my TBR pile. But usually, favorites. And my main bookshelves are currently organized by genre. But I've done read/to-read and genre before, and some other variations in there too. I just can't commit to a system and must try them all. Haha!
ReplyDeleteYAYYYY NEW HOUSE + MUST SEE PICTURES SOON!
Yay congrats on the new house! :) So I have a shelf organizing problem. No, not problem. Addiction. I basically have to call it my hobby, because I love it so much. Right now, my books are organized by height and series. Before that it was genre. Before that, color. Author's last name. I've tried a lot of different things. But now it's height and series, because books need to be together, y'know.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, that sounds so awesome.
ReplyDeleteI rearrange my bookshelves pretty often to all of favorite books have a chance to be at the top for a while. So I don't think I am going to be a big help to you since you're likely not to have time for rearranging shelves much in the near future. :) xo
I'm curious as to just how much the library room had to do with the final decision on *that* house LOL :D (congrats by the way)
ReplyDeleteThe husband and I have nine LARGE shelving units scattered throughout the house and most the books shelved closest to our desks are 'to-read' or 'Books I <3' - otherwise they're organized mainly by stacks ... medium-sized stacks, BIGGER stacks, doubled-stacked and leaning piles....
I don't particularly recommend this method. In fact, I'm reading the replies for smart ideas for us too :)
I have a shelf for my favorite books, but everything is strictly alphabetical then chronological order. I just couldn't stand for it to be anything else :P
ReplyDelete