Bibliomania: Building Bookshelves

While searching for ideas for bookshelves I recently stumbled upon this quote on a blog,

“I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.”

Anna Quindlen

and began to realise how my life revolves around the bookshelves. 

But bookshelves are a must.  We've run out of room and now books are sitting in the basement (cave in French).

Here are a few things to consider when building bookshelves.

1. How many books do you own?

Now who says you don't use math outside of school? After a few calculations based on bookshelves in our current apartment that we love, we realise for our massive collection of books we'll need at least 62 shelves (based on 40 books per shelf).


2. How long do you want the bookshelves to be?

This is a very important question because the length of shelves will determine which kind of wood you will have to use. Note I said have and not can. One thing you'll notice quickly as a bibliophile is that soft woods or particle board will sag under the weight of books. This sagging will worsen based on the length of your shelf unless you use hardwoods that can handle the amount of weight and stress you will put on the shelf, especially towards the center.

3. How much space do you want between the shelves?

If you're like us you have books of various sizes, but standard format for books is usually less than 30 cm high (which is just shy of 12 inches). Oversized books such as coffee table books can range in size and of course there are smaller format books. Separate your books and see what percentage of your books are standard format, oversized, or pint sized.

4. How deep do you want the shelves?

Do you like to have extra space in front of the books? We will be restricted to the depth of our bookshelves because of the space we have designated, but if you have a more bountiful floor space we hate you you can play around with the appearance of the shelves.

5. Where will the bookshelves go?

Our answer will probably be everywhere they can, but if you need less shelves, you will have more options. I like making the most of wall space and especially like using difficult spaces. A recessed area in a wall, a corner between the doors, or even where you might least expect them. I've even seen pictures of books stashed under the stairs (which is clever except for the dust and dirt the books will accumulate under there, so it's not practical). Find where the shelves will go and a lot of your questions will be answered because the space will determine your options.

Here are some bookshelves to inspire you and get your project started.

Do yourself a big favor and draft out a plan for your bookshelves. Even if you're not Louis Kahn you can still make a rough draft that will give you an idea of what you want your bookshelves to look like and calculate the dimensions. We're lucky that a professional carpenter will be helping us with this project, but if you're not you will need to plan out your shelves perfectly in order to save yourself money. Even with a professional carpenter we want to be as economical (and more importantly) and as environmentally friendly as possible.

Here is the 1st draft:

This draft was sort of like the dream draft where our books vs. the amount of space duked it out and the amount of space won because we then had to make another draft.

The wall we will use for the books is the most difficult wall in the living room because it's blocked on every side. It's blocked to the left (the draft is facing the as yet not made bookshelves) by a small cupboard and the slant of the ceiling. On the top it's also partially blocked by the slant of the ceiling. To the right it's blocked by a corner and a doorway to the terrace.

What I decided to do is to divide up the space based on the slant of the ceiling on the left-hand side. The shelves cannot be as tall, so what I've drafted here means building the sides of the bookshelves as high as they can go and placing the shelves based on the smaller sized books we have. The top shelf can then be used for a decorative object or to put more books. The first three columns of shelves are for smaller books, the fourth column for odd/oversized books, and the last three are for the standard format books.

Keep in mind this set up isn't a bibliophile's dream. It means the books cannot be placed on the shelves with the same organisation. For example alphabetical order or the Dewey Decimal System is not an option. In the end I think this is the most practical option because it allows us not to waste the space under the slant in the roof and will display the books in a sort kooky way without losing the whole "wall of books" impact your library can give to your apartment or house.

"Books are awfully decorative, don't you think?"

from Auntie Mame with Rosalind Russell (a must see)

Whatever your budget or plans, look online for inspiration, and for the DIY-ers to get material and construction tips. Stand alone bookshelves and customised bookshelves can be very expensive and in my experience places like IKEA have cheap options but they look cheap very quickly. I bought some cheap temporary bookshelves made of particle board in February and already in July they have bowed dramatically in the center. We're only renting, so we plan on using good quality hardwood that we can take with us when we move to either reuse as shelving or for another project. Keep this in mind as you build because while a great bookshelf is very cool, wasting wood and depleting the world's forests not so much.

As we say in France, bon courage (literally good courage, but really means "crap you have something difficult ahead of you, I hope you survive and/or get what you want)!

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Scary Space - Storage Solutions Debunked

We had to give back to the cave (cellar for storing stuff). I am in a panic.

The question I find myself asking more than any other is "How the heck am I going to find space for everything!!!!!" For the past couple weeks I have Google'd every possible variation of "please let me find some actual kind of storage solution before I lose my mind".

When in doubt, or, out of tequila, one must find other ways of maintaining their sanity. In New York sanity was maintained through the buying of footwear. I'd do that now except (wait for it)...I HAVE NO STORAGE SPACE!!! I'm pretty sure the flat is already unable to handle my current shoe count. I am so shoe'd.

So in the interest of my not being carted off in a straitjacket, I've decided to self-medicate. As they say Louboutins laughter is the best medicine.

Here are the ten worst, unrealistic, and assanine storage solutions and why they don't work the way home decor magazine editors think they do outside of the magical land where these editors live. I have left out the names of the websites where I found these major storage fails only because they have more lawyers than I do.

10. The hideaway television for people who live under rocks and haven't realised flat screens exist yet. Shame my parents threw away that television in a cabinet I had as a kid, think of all that free space!

9.  The most useless tray to ever be partially shoved under an armchair. All I can say is how much ad space did The Basketweaving Company buy that this ever made it into the pages of Britain's most read home decor magazine? Thankfully I now know exactly what to do with my four magazines, my remote control, and a cell phone from 1999. Maybe it's supposed to be a garbage basket?

8. The perfect solution for someone who may be short on storage space and functioning brain cells. I'm pretty sure whoever rolled these towels probably off'd themselves in a Bed, Bath, and Beyond or is having an illicit affair with the bear from the Snuggle commercials because the only way I'd think this was a clever solution was if I got hopped up on dryer sheets.

7. I can see it now. Monday morning editor's meeting. The room is packed with interns full of ideas that they've probably had to come up with because they're underpaid, like alcohol and having food to eat, and therefore live in a Manhattan studio where the bathtub in the kitchen is also their bed. In walks the editor who after a few moments of detached silence shoots down all their ideas because she's finally come up with the best kitchen storage solution of all time. Cupboards!!! Kitchen island!! Never considering any one of her interns would happily sleep in the space on top of the cupboards, a space which is mysteriously void of anything. Either these are the world's first cupboards to allow one to store their bulky kitchen wares in another time dimension or someone has no concept of what it means to sleep on your own books because there's nowhere else to put them.

6. I don't have a lot storage space and didn't need it because of being able to stash things in the cave and I'm trying to do the best with what I've got. If this situation isn't already bad enough, I apparently have to take decorating advice from blind grandmothers with bad taste in handbags. Not only is having to mount your sofa to hang up your coat one of the worst ideas I think anyone has ever had ever, but I think I could search the dumpsters of Calcutta and never find a coat rack as hideous as the one in this picture. It's like a rose trelis got jaundice and climbed up on the wall to die with only the accessories it's owner was too embarassed to bring out in public to cover up it's own hideousness.

5. The focus of this picture is supposed to be the recessed wall and the little benches with their oodles of storage space underneath the seats perfect for storing things and keeping the place tidy for when your guests come over and want to pretend they're in a paralell universe where Laura Ashley has invited you over circa 1982 to stare at the back of her head. This apparently not only provides you with less space to store things than would two high cabinets, but also frees you from that terrible thing called social interaction.

4. You're lucky enough to find a kitchen with drawers. It's a dream come true compared to your last apartment where you kept your silverware in the refrigerator. Kitchen drawers come with great responsibility. You crack under the pressure, having never been all that responsible in the first place, and instead full your kitchen drawers with rubber band balls, paper clips, house keys, your only two remaining napkin rings, White Out, and trimming ribbon because you are a jackass.

3. This closet is perfectly fine, assuming you have a closet and a deep profound love for 1) hot pink, 2) clothes hung on perfectly spaced out hangers in your favorite color the aforementioned hot pink, and 3) no sense of style whatsoever. If you don't love hot pink or have a closet this storage solution is about as useful having a tank of gas but no car while sitting on a freeway during rush hour.

2. If you're living in a place the size of a broom cupboard, but it's not because you don't have oodles of money stashed away then this is the storage solution for you. Custom made cupboards are nothing 'cause you got dividends coming in and this is just how you roll. This might not be something I would have understood before except just the other day on the Canal Saint Martin I saw Baron Rothschild having some custom cupboard put into the flap behind his refrigerator box. Apparently he's letting some friends crash in his cereal box on the Ile Saint-Louis because it has two bathrooms.

1. You're slightly underpaid. Perhaps if you earned more you'd spring for the other half of the bookshelf, but you just sprang for a basket to put under your couch for your remote control and one of those new fangled flat televions. Still you need a place to store that one candlestick and a few other miscellaneous items. You put the half shelves in, thinking to yourself if you're very careful with your spending habits, you'll be able to have real bookshelves one day. Granted you only have twenty nine books and a few photo albums you've spruced up with the ribbon you keep in your silverware drawer. But books say you're sophisticated and smart and maybe if you keep some books around, people will look at them and then afterwards look at that picture of you when you were a kid and that's what you're really after because let's face it people who keep pictures of themselves around are narcacistic a-holes.

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