Blufashion readers tend to be a pretty well-read group, so what do you think is the best way to organize a bookshelf?
Since the invention of Pinterest, I have spent an inordinate amount of time eyeballing beautiful bookshelves. There’s nothing more appealing in a home than walls of beautiful, well-stocked, well-organized bookshelves. Unfortunately, that “organized” part is really key. My apartment is full of bookshelves, but everything is stuffed on them willy-nilly, with no system of organization at all besides my having a generally good memory to be able to remember where I left something. If someone else needed to find something, though, they’d be out of luck.
There are a lot of different ways of organizing bookshelves, and they all have their adherents. One of the most beautiful but contentious is organizing by color. Look how pretty it is!
As pretty as it is, color-coded books make a lot of people uncomfortable. How do you ever find anything? I’m pretty good at remembering where I put things, and even I have no idea what color the spines of most of my books are.
Alphabetizing by the author is another popular one, though that can lead to some weird browsing situations if Dr. Seuss winds up right next to Ayn Rand.
Organizing by subject is a good one, but then each subject needs a separate, internal organization system. Do you organize by book size? By author’s surname? The subject organization is probably the favorite, but it can lead to some messy-looking bookshelves.
No bookshelves are messier-looking than mine, though. All my books aren’t even upright, and there are random file folders, scented candles, and fabric just stuffed all over them. It’s sort of a disaster.
The Blufashion readers tend to be a particularly well-read crew, so you guys must have some good solutions. How do you organize your books? Let us know in the comments.