Lauren Denton
We’ve lived in our house for four and a half years, and for most of this time, our basement den has held nothing but the furniture from our old house, most of which predated our marriage. When we finally decided we’d had enough of the 20-year-old couch, faded red chair and sagging ottoman, we called a designer friend to help us refresh the room. Once we got a game-plan in place, our first assignment was to paint. And not just the walls, but everything from the baseboards to the ceiling, including one full wall of bookshelves stuffed full of books. And since my kind (and taller than me) husband tackled the job of painting the ceiling, the task of painting the bookshelves fell to me.
As I pulled the books off and stacked them on the coffee table, floor and every other horizontal surface I could find, I began to mentally rearrange them on the shelves. We’ve all seen those gorgeous photos of bookshelves online — the ones that make you want to curl up in a comfy chair with a well-loved paperback or a crisp hardcover. I had all kinds of images in mind that would entice our family as well as visitors to our home to choose a title at random and have a seat.
All it takes is one Google search of “how to style bookshelves” to see there are rules for bookshelf styling, and the rules vary depending on who you ask. A popular trend these days is color coordination — grouping all your books according to color so the eye goes from one side of the rainbow to the other. Or better yet just include white and neutral colored books on your shelves. Some say chunk the paperbacks altogether and only display your best hardcovers, and definitely without the distracting dust jackets. As far as what else to put on the shelves with the books? Spare seems to be the rule of the day — no more than three books stacked together, preferably with a single framed photo, painting, or sculpture on top — though there are some designers who fill the shelves with so many accessories, they really only have a few books on the shelves at all. One designer said to overlap framed art for a layered look and add in mementos from your travels, such as maps, souvenirs or globes.
Well, I tried some of that. I added a few books and some “knick-knacks,” aiming for the “one-third books, one-third accessories, one-third empty space” rule of thumb, but that left about two-thirds of our books on the floor, so that didn’t work. Then I tried shelving them horizontally instead of vertically. I stacked books of similar size and/or color, but that left too much empty space and felt flat. Next up was organization by color. I’ll admit it was pleasing to the eye, but when I went to find the Southern fiction section, it was all over the place, split into about five different color groups! Not for me, thanks.
Finally, I resorted to categories that make sense for us. I put our beloved Southern fiction titles together, grouped Matt’s running, hiking and general mountain mischief titles all together, put the nonfiction in one section and the fiction paperbacks in another section. The kids’ books got the entire bottom row and part of a second one. I added a few bookends to hold them up, propped up a painting that feels like home and gave Sela a section for her feathers and shark teeth. I took a step back and pronounced it all good.
Then our sweet designer called and offered to come help style our bookshelves for us. I tried not to sweat while telling her, “Actually, I’ve already done it, and I’m probably going to be a little touchy about the shelves” (aka, “please don’t tell me I have to shelve them by color because that means “Cold Sassy Tree” has to be right next to “Hiking Trails in North Georgia,” and that just doesn’t make sense!”) Thankfully she understands both my need to have my books make sense and the fact that I tend to put my foot down to strange things when it comes to decorating, and she let it go.
My bookshelves surely won’t make any Instagram influencer’s bookshelves of the week, but at least I know where my books are — the paperbacks are snuggled up next to hardcovers, fiction and nonfiction have their own space regardless of color, and Sela’s robin feathers and shark teeth are smack dab in the middle.
When I’m not writing about my family and our various shenanigans, I write novels and go to the grocery store. My novels are in stores (locally at Little Professor and Alabama Booksmith) and online. You can reach me by email at Lauren@LaurenKDenton.com, visit my website LaurenKDenton.com, or find me on Instagram @LaurenKDentonBooks or Facebook ~LaurenKDentonAuthor.