Bookshelf Organization

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By nataliezdrieu
Posted January 12th, 2010
Category Craft, Home

As we cover organization this month, who could forget about all our books? Our dear friend Tina in her Wallflower column on SF Gate rounds up some inspirational photos and links on bookshelf organization. I love the idea of organizing books by color but even more so, the art of how to combine books with cute knick-nacks.

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8 Responses to Bookshelf Organization

Logical on January 12th, 2010 at 12:08 pm said:

Ever been in a library where the computer says the book you desperately need is on the shelf, but you can’t find it at the location it’s supposed to occupy? You don’t know if the book has been stolen, is in use by a current patron in the building, or has been shoved onto a shelf on another row. For all intents and purposes, that book might as well be on Mars.
If you enjoy that type of experience, then – fine – group your books by color. So what if you’ve got the “Gotham Writer’s Workshop Fiction Writing” workbook shelved next to “Animal Rights: A Beginner’s Guide”? Who cares if three of the Terry Pratchetts are shelved with the blue books, four with the yellows, and two with the reds? As long as the shelves look good, nobody needs to be bothered with actually being able to find anything.
“Aesthetic” is not synonymous with “organize.” Please learn the difference.

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April on January 12th, 2010 at 12:47 pm said:

Thank you to the person above. When I saw this article I was excited to read about organizing my bookshelves. Then when I opened it I was GRAVELY diappointed. Why would you group your books by color it doesn’t make any sense if you ever want to find it again.

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Caty on January 12th, 2010 at 1:04 pm said:

and this trend is appalling to me. Absolutely appalling. Logical has it perfectly right. What’s the point of having books on a shelf if you can’t find them? Part of the charm of a library is that the books are all different sizes and colors and materials. If you really abhor the look, just make some cute curtains to cover the shelves, but please, please, please don’t encourage people to “organize” by color! (Well, books at least. Fabric, yarn, pillowcases, etc–go crazy!)

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Natalie Zee Drieu on January 12th, 2010 at 1:10 pm said:

I think organizing by color can work in small groupings for a bookcase, interspersed with knick nacks. I wouldn’t do it for ALL the books in house personally. It could work for small groupings of craft books or art books. It’s just an idea here that’s different than what’s normally done.

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Angela on January 12th, 2010 at 1:33 pm said:

I have my books organized by color, and I love it! Even if I don’t know a book’s author, I usually remember what the cover looks like, so it’s actually quite easy for me to find what I’m looking for.

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Caty on January 12th, 2010 at 1:36 pm said:

I’ll give you the small bits of books and decor and possibility of it working. I’ll also admit to my over-organization of media at home… ::pushes glasses up:: I think I, personally, was more appalled at the photos this blog linked to but was too lazy to comment on that site. I’m just scared of the thought of interior designers taking dust jackets off and color-organizing books (I’ve heard of it happening)!

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Natalie Zee Drieu on January 12th, 2010 at 1:41 pm said:

Caty, I love your honesty! And I used to work for the library school at UC Berkeley as an undergrad so I get your point. Also why I chose the photo I did for the linking and not the large scale one.

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Kim on January 13th, 2010 at 11:55 am said:

I LOVE it! I’m kind of an OCD-organizational freak, but I also like things to be pretty! (right now my books are organized by genre-then title within genre-but it looks kind of blah) I like the idea of color organizing, and using cute little knick knacks as accents!! I think I need to go re-organize my house now lol

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