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Shelved by Color

My friend Alishka Babushka over at All's Fair in Love and War pointed me to this lovely post at Design Mom, in which she reshelves the books on her living room bookcases by color. I know this has been done before, but so many of them are sort of neon crazy or they don't look like books anyone would actually own. This one is just very simple and real looking and particularly pretty on the white shelves, I thought. I don't know if I could ever do it myself (I'm kind of addicted to the nice clean order of my oh-so-original alphabetical by last name system), but I think the result might really be worth seeing. Enjoy.

P.S. How do you shelve your books? And do you go through and change the system from time to time just to shake things up a little?
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Comments

  1. Tales of Whimsy10:34 AM

    I only keep hardcovers. I keep the really old beautiful ones together and the others are mixed about. I like the mayhem.

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  2. Ella Preuss10:39 AM

    I order them by Author, putting the same Author's books all together.

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  3. alishka babushka10:39 AM

    ah...a shout out! thanks dearie. also. finished child of prophecy last night and then proceeded to read Wake in it's entirety. oh man. goodness. someday, when i have a bookshelf i will do them by color, just because it is so awesome. however, it won't last long. i'm like you, i need order.

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  4. Mandi11:36 AM

    That is so cool!!

    I just order them by author..but I have a favorite shelf, and shelves dedicated to just historicals and YA.

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  5. Angiegirl12:06 PM

    Juju, that's awesome. I'm glad there are people out there who can appreciate mayhem. :)

    Ella, a woman after my own heart.

    Alicia, anytime! How did you feel after finishing CHILD OF THE PROPHECY? And WAKE really is great, isn't it? I love the first time Cabel and Janie meet.

    Mandi, I love the idea of a favorites shelf! I may have to implement that next time I'm in a reorganizing mood.

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  6. Kath12:14 PM

    I use to group them by genre, but recently reorganized them by author. Since we move around a lot (my husband is in the marines) I dont have my whole collection, so my library is kind of small right now. I miss all my books. Thank goodness for public libraries!

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  7. Marie12:28 PM

    I tried to do this color thing once and it looked AWFUL! For some reason none of the colors really matched that well and I has WAY too many black books and not enough other colors!
    Now I just have a case for YA and a case for adult...

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  8. Diana Peterfreund1:11 PM

    The link seems to focus on books that were surprisingly similar in color -- not just "green" but "trendy pale celery/spring green" -- my book collection doesn't fit that mold.

    I do mostly by type -- YA books, romance books, non-fic, mysteries, classics, TBR...

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  9. Marnie1:39 PM

    Could never shelf by color--- then the authors books wouldn't be together. I shelf by authors last name and then by title or series placement.

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  10. Angiegirl2:01 PM

    Kath, you have my sympathy. All of our things were in storage for three years and I went through wave after wave of withdrawal for my books. Also worry that they were slowly being eaten away by literarily inclined mice. *shudder*

    Marie, too many black books--that's great! I bet it did look off. I have no idea actually if it would work at all with mine. I'll have to scope it out. Although the time it will take to put them all back in alphabetical order may deter me in the end...

    Diana, exactly. It seemed to work out surprisingly serendipitously for her. And I know my rather large, yellow Nancy Drew collection would throw the whole thing off. I really am tempted by the by-type method. I have fiction and non-fiction separated. Then poetry, drama, criticism, and reference. Hm.

    ..., it does seem like it could get maddening pretty fast, doesn't it? Perhaps a Kodak moment only. I shelf by author's last name as well and then within each author, I believe I do it chronologically according to original publication date.

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  11. Samantha R3:01 PM

    I used to keep my shelf in order by last name, too. However I would also take it a step further (probably too far, lol) and organize by title, unless it's a series and in that case they can go chronologically.
    I was really proud of my bookcase when I had it. When I decided to move last year for a great job opportunity I had to leave my books behind in storage (it was terrible!!), but it won't be too much longer before we're reunited. :D
    I love an organized book collection. :)

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  12. Becky3:59 PM

    It does look very pretty and artistic to organize by color. So pretty. I couldn't do that though. I love putting my books by genre & by author. Although everything is in storage right now, I usually put my collections together. In fact, I have an entire bookshelf of nothing but my "academic" reads. I suppose if you love books, you love organizing them and seeing them up on your shelves! :)

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  13. Kimberly Swan7:53 AM

    Wow, I think they look great gathered together by color, but that won't work for me. :( I actually have all of my books off of their shelves just now, and am trying to decide how to organize them! *grin*

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  14. Angiegirl9:46 AM

    mjmbecky, it sounds like several of us have been or are going through the storage thing. Ugh. And I agree with you. I think I would be sad looking up at them all mixed up. Like strangers sitting next to each other at a party.

    Kimberly, ooh, you're actually in the process right now! Definitely let us know what you end up going with. :)

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  15. Angiegirl9:47 AM

    Samantha, it really is a reunion. I was near tears getting reacquainted with them all again. Lol.

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  16. Kimberly Swan12:28 PM

    Angie - As lovely as the gathered colors look, I know I can't go that route either. (it would drive me nuts trying to find a specific book) Decisions, decisions. *grin*

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  17. Angiegirl9:52 PM

    Kimberly, it is hard to decide. And if you have above a certain number of books, it takes a long time to change!

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  18. Christine7:54 PM

    I love that!!! Very chic. I'd love to do that with our bookshelves, but we probably don't have enough "colorful" books to make a beautiful rainbow like that.

    I shelve my books in size order, but always keep an author/series together.

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  19. Angiegirl10:07 PM

    Christine, by size huh? How cool. I'd love to see a pic. I love getting a peek of other booklovers' shelves.

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