Wednesday 16 March 2016

My Bookshelf

No Paperback's Pondering's today, as I decided to talk about something that is practically quintessential in any bookworm's room, and that is: the bookshelf.



Everywhere on bookstagram, blogs and in between, you will see beautiful photos of bookshelves. From colour coding, sorting alphabetically, or arranging them like a library, a nice bookshelf can be every bookworm's dream. Seriously though, how aesthetically pleasing. So today I'm going to talk a bit about my bookshelf, what I think works and what I wished I could do, as well as some organizational tips that have worked for me!

I do love the look of a colour-coded shelf. It looks like a beautiful bookish rainbow, and it draws the eye's attention. I've tried to do this with my shelf, however most of my book covers are dark, grey colours. (I like the heavy themes), so that wouldn't work. My bookshelf used to be a mess, there was no organization and books were piled on top of each other. So one day I decided to at least put them all in a neat sequence. Here's what it looks like now:





I had to get rid of a lot of books in order to make them all fit. I only have one shelf, and so fitting together books was sometimes like a jigsaw puzzle. I now organized it by favourite books, the ones I would be most likely to re-read at the top for easy access, and then the ones that I probably would be less inclined to pick up again at the bottom. Most thicker, hardcovers went at the bottom as well.

I also noticed that I didn't organize books in a series together before, and so I made sure that all books by the same author were put together. Finally, I put up different travel relics and nic-nacs that I have collected over the years, as well as some pictures. I think it just makes everything less bare.



I think my favourite part of my bookshelf, (besides the books) is this really neat jewellery tree that sits on top. It's so great to be able to see all of your jewellery, as well as it makes for less tangling. Plus, it just looks pretty whimsical :)



I did consider alphabetical organization, but I was way too lazy and it would take way too long. All I was really looking for in my bookshelf was just for everything to have a place. Right now, everything fits perfectly and there is little to no wiggle room for another book. That's why it's been a while since I've actually bought a physical copy. Plus, I get very overprotective over books and I am not willing to get rid of any more, so this will have to do for now.

I think that the main tip I would have for a bookshelf is to work with the space you have. If you're bookshelf isn't big enough, then you might want to consider doing a cleanse, OR if you can't bare the thought, perhaps moving books you're less inclined to re-read to storage boxes.

I would also highly recommend adding little elements to your shelves such as pictures. It just makes everything seem more cozy and fills the space. I think it looks really cute.

Lastly, do what makes you happy! Don't think that you must have a gorgeous rainbow shelf to be like all the others, if you don't think that it will work, don't do it, and vice versa. No two bookshelves are exactly the same, and if you're happy with it, then that's all that matters.

What are some of your bookshelf tips?

Emily @ Paperback Princess

11 comments:

  1. Awwwww! This is really cute Emily! I have a bookshelf as well, and I just organize mine by how much I like the book and fit it together with their series! This is a really interesting post! Maybe I'll do a bookshelf tour soon...

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    1. Thanks Em! I'd love to see your bookshelf :D

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  2. I love your mouse-thing! I wish I was still able to fit everything on one bookcase ;)

    I've kind of moved on to gigantic jenga-style piles next to... pretty much everything. Oops! ;)

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    1. Jenga-style piles are cool too! You just have to be careful when taking books out from the middle lol!

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  3. Your bookshelf looks so pretty! Mine, on the other hand, can't even be considered as a bookshelf, because it's more of a "one-shelf situation in which I try to stack all my books in an aesthetically pleseant way". I like the idea of organizing the books by genre and that's what I do. I put all my fantasy and dystopian novels together, because they're mostly dark/blue covers; and all my contemporaries in the other side, because they're more colorful and also shorter. But one day, I shall have a huge bookshelf and drown in books, hahah. Thanks for sharing your bookshelf with us! 💟

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    1. Haha yes, one day we will all have beautiful libraries :D I like the genre idea, but most of my books have interconnecting genres that it would just get confusing.

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  4. I love all your little knick knacks - especially the jewellery tree! I can't bare my books not being in alphabetical order, but I have been considering moving them around a bit. I also like to keep my read books separate from my unread books, so space is always a challenge for me with over 100 unread!

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    1. That's a good idea! That way you can visually see how behind you are on a reading goal.

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    2. Well when you put it like that it sounds like a bad idea! :P

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  5. Ah I love how you've shown us your bookshelf - very important to any bookworm! <3
    Your bookshelf is gorgeous though! It's a pity you only have one - it does make it quite hard to organise! But yeah, what you've done to it, you've added some personal things, so it looks so YOU, you know? And I think that's the best thing about bookshelves - about how they can represent a person! :)

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    1. Thanks Geraldine! It is hard, but I made it fit for what would work for me, and that's what matters! I totally agree, you can tell a lot about a person by what's on their bookshelf haha!

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