Do you have books spilling every which way and all over the house? Here are some fun and practical ideas for book storage.
Cookbooks
Store your cookbooks in the kitchen, where they can be easily accessed. I keep mine in a glass-fronted pantry in the kitchen. The books add to the decor of the space and make everything look warm and inviting. Here is a de-cluttering tip: Go through your cookbooks and add a post it not on the pages of every recipe you regularly make or have tried. If a book has less than five post it notes, consider coping or scanning out the recipes and donating the cook book itself.
Short stories and novels
Keep short stories in the bedroom and guest bedroom for nice bedtime reading. I store a bunch of short stories and easy to read novels in a bedroom cubby.
Reference books
Consider storing little-used reference books in an out-of-the-way space, such as a dry basement or closet. You can also consider donating these types of books, since the Internet is a great resource for information. Reference books that are frequently opened, such as my book on AP style (for writing newspaper and magazine articles) or our book on baby care can stay in the office or family room space.
Fun ideas
Don’t limit yourself to standard bookshelves for storage. You can turn practically anything into book storage. One fun idea is to attach a window box on the inside of your room and use it to store books. On one of those design show, I saw someone who artfully created a free-standing book sculpture by stacking his books on top of each other (wouldn’t work in my house). Store the books in a window seat or on a high shelf above a window. For a modern flair, purchase or make hard clear plastic cubes for seating, placing your books inside for storage and decor.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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