7.21.2010

A Little OCD About My Bookshelf

A few years ago I started actually buying the books I read, rather than borrowing from friends or getting them from the library (okay, not all, but most).  I did this mainly because I have a goal to have a kick ass library in our future house someday (inspiration below).  Spare me on the Kindle speech, I don't want one, I like REAL books.
 
 

Over the past few years I've accumulated about 60 books, and yes, I like to keep them on display.  Right now they fill about 3 shelves on my bookshelf in the living room, and I have them organized by color.  CAhusband thinks this is an absurd way to organize books; however, after seeing it in a decor magazine (like the inspiration photo above) I decided to try it with our books, just to see how it looked.  Although it's a little cheesy, I like it, but here's where the OCD comes in.

 
  • I have tons of red, blue, and black books... but only a few of the other colors.  I now ridiculously find myself searching for orange, green, and purple books at the bookstore, simply because of their color.  Obviously, I'm not that OCD and stop myself from actually purchasing them, but I definitely think about it for a significant amount of time.
  • When I loan a book out to a friend I really miss it!  (If you're reading and have borrowed a book from me, this isn't a hint, keep it, this is my OCD we're discussing here).  I loaned The Help to the school secretary, and it's one of my very few yellow books.  I now nearly obsess over how my shelf looks "funny" without it there.
  • Piper has eaten several of my books, that were once more spaced out through all 5 shelves (now they're only on the top 3, so she can't reach).  Although my books are some of my most prized possessions, I've chosen to deal with it; UNLESS, she ate a book that belongs to a series that I've collected!!!!  For example, I own all of the Emily Giffin books, and Piper ate Love the One You're With (the green one).  Now this was especially painful because I seriously take pride in having all of the books by an author, and it was one of my FEW green books!  Although I've read the book, I now find myself REALLY wanting to re-purchase it!  How ridiculous is that?? 
  • While watching TV, CAhusband will find me staring at the bookshelf.  What am I doing?  I'm obsessing over if the shades of the books are organized correctly, like should I organize the shades of blue from light to dark, or dark to light?  Where should the aqua/turquoise books go? Where do black and white books fall into the rainbow spectrum?
After all of this obsession I'm starting to think I should maybe I should un-do the color coding!  What do you think?  Do you buy your books or utilize the library?  How do you organize your books?
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13 comments:

Lindsay said...

This is so funny! Love that you do this. I've never heard of color coding them but that picture is amazing. Now I want to go color code my book shelf :) Cant wait to see your progress of your growing book collection!!!

Ashlee said...

i found your blog a little while ago and love it! i love the color coded books...makes me wanna get up and rearrange all mine :)

Newlywed and Decorating said...

I love owning the books I read too! They are great memories to look at. I tend to organize mine by author and then type of book. I have my chick lit section, my non-fiction, etc. I do love your color-coding though!

Sydney -- PetiteGorgeous said...

I collect books myself. Want to have a library as well :)

If you haven't done so, I hope you will enter my giveaway of a $50 gift card to the Cheesecake Factory :).

Kassie said...

I am so against the Kindle as well...I want a library one day!! I have tons of books, two bookshelves full and then about 14 cardboard boxes full that I have no clue what to do with. I saw that photo above ages ago, and SO wanted to do it, but never did for the same reasons you have here! I thought I'd be forever messing with it, and what if I bought a new book?? Would I have to take them all down and rearrange things? lol. :)

Taylor @ The Undomestic Momma said...

I love how they are color coordinated! It looks so cute!

Jammer said...

haha this is such a cool idea! I am so torn on the Kindle...it seems pretty neat but I just love having a book in my hands for some reason!

Also, be sure to check out the giveaway going on at my blog right now! :)

http://jammer10am.blogspot.com/

melissa said...

I'm jealous. I had amassed a ton of books over the years, but recently decided I had to start letting them go. Our house was built in 1925 and while charming, is very low on space. My books were overflowing from the bookcase I had and I couldn't justify purchasing another piece of furniture. So out went every book that was not something I treasured or would read again. I'm probably down to about 50-70 books and now I'm making a very concious effort to read library books. I was to the point where it was the shoes or the books. I figured I could read library books but I couldn't go barefoot! :)

Have fun building your beautiful library! I hope to do the same again someday when we're in a bigger house.

Deirdre said...

You are soooo funny! I really like the way it looks, but you need to quit worrying about it and just enjoy it! I bet half the people who see it won't even notice (well, I should say, probably 100% of the men won't notice) that they're "rainbow" displayed.

Natalie said...

Love the idea of arranging by color. My husband is def the more OCD one and he arranged ours alphabetically, but I have since totally ruined this! :) I think colors would be easier for me to stick to!

Heather {A Measure Of...} said...

This is so funny! I'm new to your blog, and so happy to have found you. I also LOVE books. Out of all the times I've moved and started all over (I mean even getting rid of almost everything), books are the one thing that have stayed with me. One is a misnomer, because there are boxes and boxes.

While it has never even occurred to me to organize by color, I love the idea! I generally organize by genre, but have never actually gone as far as alphabetizing. I think this would raise my OCD level too high, and I would consequently start agonizing over genre too much.

Also, so with you re: kindle! Real books rule! :)

Virginia Belle said...

Our books are currently organized by type: chick lit, Charlie's finance books, biography, etc. I thought I was happy with that until I saw how amazing coordinating them by color looks!

Natalie said...

This is hilarious. I have always wanted to organize my cookbooks like this, but don't have a shelf near my kitchen to display them. Too funny!!