Fun Ways to Organise Your Books
If you’re looking for some creative ways to store books, I’ve got a couple of very simple suggestions right here. A self-confessed bookworm, I’m now at that stage where my bookshelves are groaning with the weight of so many lovely books. Each shelf contains heaps of paperback and hardback editions of various different shapes and sizes, so it’s not always easy to stay organised.
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Get a Bookcart
About a year ago I spotted this little beauty on an IKEA trip, and ever since it has been used in my house as a book trolley. It’s great to cart books around from room to room, and you can fit SO many books on each shelf – trust me I’ve tested it out! I think these carts are such a cute idea, and I know some people have started calling them TBR trolleys. These days you’ll see a lot of posts about them popping up on various bookstagram accounts. Not only do these book carts look cute, they are also revolutionary when it comes to keeping a bookworm organised. Mine has become a real game-changer for bookshelf organisation at home. For instance, lately I’ve been trying to make better use of my local libraries to save money and storage, but for a while I found it hard to know where to keep my library books when I had them out on loan. I’d come home with a stack of library loans with no place for them to go for the temporary time they were in my possession. I’d walk in from the library and just dump them anywhere. With the book cart now I can organize my library books and they have a set place to go. I keep them in the top part of the book cart so I don’t forget about them. This way my whole study looks neater and feels more organised, and my library books always get returned on time! It also works great as a temporary places for books I no longer want, and plan to pass on or give away to charity. There’s a great Oxfam bookstore not far from me, and I regularly drive over there with a big box of books to donate. But in the meantime, keeping them all together on one of the cart shelves makes it really easy to keep those ones aside. Seeing them on there reminds me to go drop them off when I next get the chance. |
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Use Picture Ledges
I also use IKEA Mosslanda picture ledges throughout the house to display art and books. I love how simple and subtle they are on any wall. Place a book facing forwards on to the picture ledge to display it and show off some of your favourite cover art. I love interesting book covers so it’s really nice to display them in this way. I have a couple of the picture ledges dotted around – one in my study and a couple in my bedroom. They look smart and can be used in any room setup. When I redecorated our old smallest bedroom a few years ago to become my own study, these were some of the first things I picked out from IKEA. They work really well in my soft yet minimalist home-office/study area, and played a key part in the makeover. I thought about painting them to match the walls so they’d blend in even more, but ultimately decided to leave them white. They match nicely with all my white stationery and computer equipment and after several years I still think they look great! |
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Bookends
Add some personality to your shelf, with some quirky bookends. Whilst the majority of my shelves are absolutely crammed tightly with books, there are a couple of spots in my house where I seem to have just a couple of books floating around and looking messy. This is where bookends are especially useful at keeping everything in place and stopping books from tipping over. Paired bookends often look great on a single shelf, but in a larger space I also recommend splitting them up. Using one bookend as a way of displaying a small collection of books propped up against it can work well and create a nice look, functioning more as a statement piece or ornament rather than just a functional weighty item to keep books in place. Bookends are generally pretty heavy – they work best when made of heavy material that prevents them from moving on a bookshelf surface. You can get some really wonderful designs, but generally I mostly tend to go for quite simple slightly lighter metal bookends that are easy to move around and reposition. MUJI is a great place to find these kind, and they are very affordable. |
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I’d love to hear your thoughts and ways you like to keep your book collections organised at home.
I’m lucky enough to have quite a lot of bookshelf space at home, but I could really use a whole library of my own at some point! Couldn’t we all?
I’m lucky enough to have quite a lot of bookshelf space at home, but I could really use a whole library of my own at some point! Couldn’t we all?