Are you a spring cleaner?
Finally moved that old, broken piece of furniture out the back of the garage? Have you pulled the grown-out jumpers from under the bed? How about the ancient (and quite creepy) stuffed toys from the attic?
One item that is never fully addressed during spring cleaning activities is the bookcase: something which is always on show and so always in the back of your mind.
For me, the bookcase goes through a frequent reshuffle as I buy more and more books - too many books. This reshuffle is forced upon me simply because of my financial irresponsibility, but all I find myself doing is stacking and squeezing books between my shelves in new and scientifically improbable ways. The pandemic proved to us all that the perfectly organised bookshelf is aesthetically pleasing and showcases you as an intellectually sound individual. Cut to my overstuffed shelves, barely holding onto my belongings.
To combat this, I’ve introduced a new system to my shelves: depth and colour.
I’m a lucky man to have a substantially deep bookshelf, deep enough to comfortably double stack my books. “But I won’t be able to see everything I own!” I hear you scream. Well, that is only the case if you irresponsibly organise your titles…
Step One – Pull ALL your books off your shelves.
Step Two - Work out which are your largest titles, and which are your smallest.
Step Three – Before putting anything back on the shelves, work out which titles you want to have on show.
The real aim here is to rid yourself of those unnecessary books that you picked up for cheap at a charity store or car boot, or perhaps those books you borrowed, and never returned… best give those back.
However, another side of doing this sorting is so you can identify the titles you truly adore and would love to display in a more prominent way. For me, I have a deep love of Sally Rooney so have pulled her three books from the rest of my collection and display them on the shelf above!
This is highly dependent on the other spaces at your disposal, but I move larger hardbacks or ‘coffee table’ books to a communal bookcase on my upstairs landing. These humongous titles are awkward wherever they go, as none of them are ever identical in size, but none of them warrant the donation pile.
TIP - Find a place for these hardbacks to live, permanently.
Step Four – With your selected books sorted, load the back of your shelf with your tallest titles.
Do this with your brightest book spines on one shelf / side and then create a gentle darkening gradient across the unit. The easiest way to achieve this is through a rainbow formation, but you’re aiming to achieve something better than random book placement.
TIP - If you have the vertical room, elevate your rear books by placing them on empty containers or small blocks of wood. This will guarantee their visibility above the front titles.
Step Five - Repeat the colour gradient in the front of your shelf with your smaller titles.
TIP - Leave room, if you can, to put knick-knacks and decorations between the books, giving the entire bookcase more variety.
EXTRA TIP - For the plant-lovers, have a trailing part on top of the unit and have it flow down the shelves. This verticality will draw the eye to each shelf individually, rather than the collective whole.
Step Six – Stand back and admire your work. Something needs tweaking? Play around with it. Titles can be individually shuffled but to organise first in this collective fashion will draw you more easily to organisational errors and aesthetic inaccuracies.
Step Seven – No need to wait for Spring to reorganise!
If you’re reading this article, chances are you’re a book lover like me and what better way to express your love for the medium than redecorate on the regular.
I’m very proud of the collection I’ve amassed so far and would like to add some beautiful pieces soon - Penguin Clothbound Classics are iconic, and expensive. When new books are added, they need to find their comfy place as soon as they arrive, not chucked on top and forgotten about.
TIP – Every season has its own aesthetic and reading regulars, why not redecorate with each season?
The best thing about cleaning and organising a bookcase is looking through all your books, perhaps finding some that you had forgotten you owned and would love to reread. It’s like you have your very own bookstore in your house!
Whatever way you choose to organise, make sure your love of reading is put front and centre. Cherish the books you love!
Article written by David, Social Media
