Have you ever struggled to keep your bookshelf in order? Have you ever looked around at your library and decided that it’s time to make some changes? Are you running out of space frequently on your bookshelves? Maybe it’s time for a revamp. Here are some tips on how to keep your bookshelf looking organized and aesthetic.
Alphabetize by Genre
When you are organizing your books, it’s best to start by clearing everything off of the shelves and getting all of your genres together. Depending on how big your shelves are, you may want to subdivide your genres. For example, if you have a lot of fiction books, break them up into subgenres such as fantasy, romance, historical fiction, science fiction, etc. Don’t let this overwhelm you because once you do this, the major part of the work is already done!
Alphabetize by Author
This still relates with the previous tip: alphabetize by genre. Once you get your books organized by genre, then you can begin to organize them by author. You can decide whether you want to alphabetize by first name or last name. Personally, I like to do it the way a local library does it: alphabetize by last name. This makes it easier because the last name is the first that sticks in your name. For example, do you think I would remember an Alexander Hamilton biography by Ron? Or would I remember it better by Chernow? I would remember it better by the last name: always.
Vertical stack your books all the way down.
When you stack your books on the shelves, don’t stack books in different directions. Obviously, it is never good to organize books uniformly horizontal. For big bookshelves, you don’t even want to stack some vertically and some horizontally. Stack them vertically the whole way down. This allows for it to look just like a library in your own home. Some people say it looks interesting to mix it up. Yes, it does, but only if you have a small amount of books on a shelf. If you have a small amount of books, play around with the horizontal and vertical mix. Include props. But if you have a library – make it a library!
Utilize bookends!
If you find that, after organizing your books, you have a little too much space left on certain shelves, use bookends! Bookends can fill a bit of space. Remember: if you can fill a bit of space with a bookend, you will automatically fill the other end the same way. This doubles how much space you’ll cover. It also creates a decoration without it being useless. Bookends can go a long way to making your bookshelf look fantastic! They also blend right in with books that fill the whole shelf. Just make sure the bookends you get match the aesthetic and the look of your shelves. Don’t get something too flashy!
Alphabetize by Color
This goes against the other tips. If you alphabetize books by color, then you won’t be alphabetizing alphabetically or by author. That is unless you have a huge library, then you might be able to. Most likely, by color, you would just be organizing any book you have on your shelf by color – not in any other order. This is fine. If you choose to do this, then you can do it like this:
You could also do it like this:
Either way works. If you stagger it like in the second picture, then it’s more challenging. It will look great on your shelves though in the end!
Group by Size
Maybe you don’t want to organize by color. Maybe you don’t want to organize by author. Maybe you don’t even want to alphabetize it by either one. Maybe you just want to order it by size.
You can do this in a number of ways. Large books, like reference books, can lay horizontally while the smaller books can be laid vertically beside them. This goes against what I said above, but it is a different way of organizing. If you have shelves that have less books, but they are just very heavy or large-sized books, group them like this. It will bring your shelves more character this way.
When I was in the beginning of my library journey, I did the same thing as this. It was easier to see all the books I had this way, and it just made my shelves look better. Overtime, I have adapted to make it look like the picture at the top of this page.
Organize in chronological order
Do you have a lot of books by a certain author? Do you have a lot of books by the same publisher? You might want to organize your books in chronological order. This is probably the least popular method. This is because most people that have a library don’t always get books by the same publisher or may not even contain a lot of books by the same author. If you do this, make sure you pair up HarperCollins books together in order of when they came out. If you like the WordCloud Classics books (these are my favorite), then put these together in the order they were released.
I, on the other hand, do not have a lot of books by the same publisher. I have a few books by the same author, but I don’t have enough to justify organizing them this way. I have too many books of different publishers, authors, and sizes.
Use baskets!
Don’t have enough books to use a bookshelf? Make a basket of books! I am a teacher. Obviously, I have a lot of books in my classroom. But sometimes, even if you have a lot of books, it’s easier to organize them into baskets. You can put the same genre of books in a basket or books by the same author. I have seen people do this at home too! You can do it either way. Here is what it looks like:
Add greenery to your bookshelves!
My wife loves greenery and decorations on shelves. As you can see from the picture above, we have a flower on the right side. We used to have more greenery, but we had to take it off because we filled up our shelves with so many books! Greenery brings your books to life. If, after you organize your books the way you want them, and you have tons of space leftover that even bookends cannot satisfy, then put some greenery there to cover up the spaces! It will work wonders for your library.
Use vignettes!
So, if you want to mix decorations with books on shelves, then you can do an equal amount of both. Mix and match with different props and group your books in threes. Try to use the same size books as you do it, and this will help your shelves pop!
If you like these tips, then go organize your books using any of these methods. I hope this helped you not get so overwhelmed when organizing!
