Bookshelves? Can I have too many??

[mamadelbosque]

Hi there, I'm an admitted book addict I/we have a lot of books... like, a lot, a lot, a lot. (I remember DH commenting when he first came here to my dads house that we have a bookshelf in every room... and its true. Including the bathroom ) And I'm constantly buying more (cause' you know, who can pass up that really-cool-looking-book-on-x from the goodwill for $1? I mean, really?!?!), and thus, constantly running out of space. So... my main questions are:

1) Can you have too many book shelves in your house?

2) Do/would a bookshelf along the very top of a wall (like, just big enough for standard paper-backs), be tacky?? I'm considering putting one in in our room at least, so that I can just line up all our paperbacks along one wall, just above the windows... *I* think it would look cool, but, IDK....

[mommariffic]

My motto is you can never have too many books

When we moved into this house, we were lucky that they had built in bookshelves! Which is something I swoon over, and I love love love them -- I can't reach the tip top, and I haven't bought a ladder to, but it's a wonderful thing.

I love the idea of the along-the-wall bookshelves, especially for paper backs! And arrange them by color! Sorry, so nerdy but seriously love it. Books make a house cozy

[fruitfulmomma]

We currently have most of our books on three large utility shelves in the living room, but we have at points had shelves in every room.

I would love to have shelves like you're describing. Actually, if we get around to building our own home it will include a full library, something like the one at the aunt's house in Inkheart, if you've seen that.

If you are trying to declutter maybe go through and put stickers on books like cookbooks and hobby books and then when you use them, remove the sticker, and after a certain time frame get rid of all of them that are still stickered.

Also get rid of any books you didn't like or don't think will be valuable to pass on to your children. If you aren't using it and aren't likely to, toss it to make room for betters ones.

Otherwise, provided you can still walk across the floor, sleep in your bed, and get out in case of a fire, I don't think one can have too many books.

[RollerCoasterMama]

I think if you have a place for your books, and you have a decent idea where things are, then you're good to go. The only home I was ever in that ever felt like too many books was a friend of the family that had piles of them around the perimeters of rooms. BIG piles. If he'd put in a couple of extra shelves, or even brick and board shelves, it would have made a TON of difference! It just felt more "hoarder" and didn't give off the happy vibe that walking into a room/house full of books usually gives me.

My parents have a large room in their house with floor to ceiling, wall to wall shelves. That's where the paper-backs live. They're organized and alphabatized. It's just LOTS of cinder-block bricks and boards. Believe me...when the basement got wet, it was a PITA to put it back together!!!!!! Plus there's shelves for other types of books all over the house. Pretty much every room but the kitchen. But they're neat and organized.

So, after being raised with thousands of books of every kind at my disposal, imagine my surprise when I actually decluttered my own books...I'm down to two half-size bookshelves!!! It amazes me that I let go! But for the size of my house---this is what works. And what I have are the things I treasure! Books that would be hard to replace. Or that I really would regret not having.

I think both ways work! The key is to have appropriate storage for the number of books you want to keep. If you have room, and you enjoy them, a shelf in every room sounds good! And the paper-back shelf sounds like a great idea!

[kt~mommy]

i love books. i think they are beautiful and i cannot wait to have a huge library someday with books stacked floor to ceiling! i love your shelf around the top idea!

[PacificNWMom]

Sounds like a great idea! I love books too. I dream of having a house with a library someday.

[paintedfire]

Originally Posted by PacificNWMom

I dream of having a house with a library someday

Ah. I have always wanted a library. I've even found myself looking for old card catalogs on eBay. You know, just in case.

You're women after my own heart, all of you.

[cristeen]

Just a word of warning about a bookshelf up there. Make sure you have it extremely well anchored, both to the wall, and the shelf to the supports. My sister had one of those over her bed and had it come crashing down from the weight of the books. Luckily she wasn't in the bed at the time, but it could have been extremely nasty.

Oh, and if you're in earthquake country, I still wouldn't put it over the bed. That's just asking for a rude awakening.

[PreggieUBA2C]

I don't think it's possible. We're a family of bibliophiles too.

We built a floor-to-ceiling full wall bookcase just a month or so ago and the way we made sure that it was solid was to take off the drywall and replace it with 3/4 inch plywood so that the shelving is anchored at the studs and also in the plywood. Our youngest climbed it once (eek) and it didn't budge under his 32 lbs in addition to the shelving being full of books (neary half of which are hardcover and quite heavy).

Anyway, if I were going to build in a shelf near the ceiling, I'd support it with full-length 1x(width of shelf wood) at each corner of the room that goes down right to the floor, then of course supports at every second or third stud, and a long horizontal rail along the wall underneath the shelf.

I don't think that's tacky at all if your house has a sort of book theme already. I personally don't care at all about house style or trends; it's important to me that my house is a place that is set up efficiently and pleasantly for the people who live in it.

We also built a book display case that is only three inches thick (four feet wide, floor-to-ceiling) and can fit anywhere that a framed picture could fit (profile-wise), like in a hallway. I love it and I can't wait to re-install it when our renovations come to that point. It's so lovely to have that space to hold books that we're reading presently because we have no stacking areas at all- no coffee table or end tables, etc... It also looks so nice... all those pretty book covers displayed like fruit on a platter...

Our dc love it too, and I like to switch the selection of children's books every few days because it seems to trigger a renewed interest in books they haven't looked at in a while. Sometimes I choose according to subject and other times it's a wide assortment. They have the bottom three 'shelves.'

I love having a home full of books!