Housing books

[blamebrampton]

Three weeks ago I channelled my inner student and made J drive me to Ikea, where we purchased three bookshelves. Last night I finally brought one of them in from the car and put it together, and gave the old one away to a friend. Only two left to go, but they are happy living in the car. Fortunately, we hardly ever drive anywhere.

The first shelf looks so lovely, though, and has made my books so happy. I even found my copy of The Tales of Genji, so I can finally read the end! (Note to self: double stacking is bad.) I think I will womanhandle the remaining two up the minute the rain stops. Then I will have my reference shelves behind the sofa, which should be the impetus I need to finally deal with the remaining punctuation post and bounce out of my winter slowdown.

Comments

[empress-jae.livejournal.com]

bookshelfs are one of the few guaranteed awesome purchases from ikea. they're cheap, sturdy and look damn good. :)

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I keep meaning to buy proper grown-up shelves, but they can never fit as many books as the Ikea ones! And if I stop buying books, local economies could collapse ...

[empress-jae.livejournal.com]

hahaha!

oh and thank you for not pointing out my comment faux pas. i don't have enough coffee in my system yet.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Comments have no faux pas, unless they begin with "You always reminded me of Dolores Umbridge..."

I kid you not. The local bookshop has a scheme where they send you a voucher for 10% of your spend with them over a six month period. Last year I had a $415 voucher. THIS IS NOT MY ONLY REGULAR BOOKSHOP!

My name is Blame Brampton and I'm a Bookoholic.

[empress-jae.livejournal.com]

that's awesome!! see, i think ALL bookshops should do that. even the corporate ones. i only go to this thing we have in baltimore called...well, it's called the BOOK THING. all books are $1. obviously used, but new books are so expensive. i'd be overflowing with books too if they weren't so costly. :( but wait and scower the book thing for interesting finds. :)

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

J calls my book collection our summer house. If only he were less accurate ...

Book Thing sounds GREAT, though I have banned myself from book outlets now, I have no control! And floorspace is at a premium here!

[winnett.livejournal.com]

I need new bookshelves... well I need more space or I need to get rid of books because there is not a bare wall in my apartment to put a book case against right now.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

The Ikea Billy goes up seven feet ... and the design is plain enough to be inoffensive .I know it's not as classy as grown-up shelving, but I feel less guilty about giving it away when it inevitably needs to be replaced by something larger in a few years ...

Hurrah for the book-lined effect, it's coming back!

[uminohikari.livejournal.com]

I have given up on bookshelves, and instead just stack books everywhere. Um, your way probably is neater..

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I used your way for a long time, but our house is so tiny and the railway runs right beside it and so we would wake at night to the sound of crashing book piles!

[winterthunder.livejournal.com]

Yes, double stacking is bad, but I have no more space in my bedroom!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain! Even with the new bookshelves, I think there will still be some double stacking, but I can probably restrict it to genres I don't care that much for.

[meredyth-13.livejournal.com]

Ikea = Meccano for grown ups.

Shelves are love. Our shelves in C's study are triple stacked in places. I need another bookshelf for the landing - there's even a handy couch, although no good light. *wants a skylight*

Would it take less energy to carry them yourself than to poke J enough to get him to do it? I often find this an interesting balancing act.

*blows nose, again ... and again*

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Poor Mere nose! I carried most of them up and had him help with the very long parts. It was a Meccano adventure though ;-) Still not finished. Sigh.

Skylights are good, you should definitely get one!

[maya231.livejournal.com]

The Billy is not grown-up? *shifty* I need to either buy a bookcase or get rid of books. I've been perusing the IKEA website for ideas...right now I have stacks on the floor that have no home!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

*I* think it's fine ;-)

My Swedish friends all mock my Ikea fetish and declare that my house looks as though it belongs to students. I don't know why I put them up when they're over here.

I'm a big fan of the Leksvik, but I have to say that for bang for your buck, you can't go past the Billy! And one of my cats has claimed an empty shelf, I may not be able to fill that one with books after all ...

[maya231.livejournal.com]

I have a bit of an IKEA fetish, myself (as evidenced by my using your comment as an excuse to go look at the Leksvik), but it's mostly limited to online window shopping since the store is a bit far and the biggest thing I've wanted to lug back was a POANG chair. I like the Billy, and I like the red BERGSBO bookcase with glass doors too. That's probably even less grown-up (I think it might subconsciously remind me of kindergarten with the bright colored big cubicles)! Anyway, your cats might like this http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/2007/04/stairway-to-cat-heaven.html if you decide to reclaim your bookshelf.