Keeping The Books
Alex Jay Berman
the same problem: Where and how I'm going to fit my books.
Right now, if I need to hit a reference, be it from fiction,
nonfiction, reference, or even comic books, I can turn from my
computer to easily pick the book I need with three steps away at the
most, from books sitting in the cubbyholes of my dresser or lined on
its top, on top of my credenza, on shelves, or even in bags or piles
nearby.
In the new apartment, I plan to have a computer room in the second,
smaller bedroom, but I don't think there will be enough room to make
my computer room my library as well (as I've seen done to beautiful
success in the homes of the MWers I've visited).
It looks like I'll have a wall of books in the living room.
This, of course, is easier said than done, especially on a budget.
I had thought to take the suggestion of a coworker and take some
lumber, finish it, and set it as shelves with cinder blocks to hold it
up, but a visit to the lumber yard quashed that--pine, oak, poplar,
cherry--they're all far too expensive.
Today, reading the paper, I lucked into an office store ad which had
easy-assembly bookcases for ten bucks each--three two-foot shelves.
Taking a measure of my books, I realized that I'd have to buy five of
the buggers just to hold the books I have NOW.
Now, this is still a bargain for me, but I'm not totally happy with
it--I've an aversion to veneers and particleboard and whatnot.
Still, it looks like I will be able to get my bookwall.
I can't help but think that I can do better, however, so I'd like to
get impressions and ideas from you people: Where do you hold your
books, and what is it that you use?
Alex Jay Berman
-- trying to keep SOME green in my wallet--with futons, chairs, lamps,
and a computer all to be purchased, I see all the money I've been so
painstakingly saving ebb away ...
Molly
> I can't help but think that I can do better, however, so I'd like to
> get impressions and ideas from you people: Where do you hold your
> books, and what is it that you use?
>
My books are on bookshelves. Five in this room. Two in the bedroom.
Three out in the hall. Three down in the living room.
They are also all OVER the floor.
On the desk.
Under the desk.
On anything with a flat surface.
In cartons.
In paper bags.
Tucked away in cupboards.
Sometime over the summer I'm planning to send several cartons of books
to the Seamen's Mission. Those ones are piled on the table in the spare
room.
<SIGH>
Molly
--
"Tomorrow I will go to play
balling with my friends."
-- My favourite student strikes again.
Melanie Russell
particle board book case. And of course, it was just a boring white (the
'wood grain' version was a horrible cherry like, but not cherry, tint, that
I hated) book case. I have a whole big bag of acrylic paint, so, I painted
the book case. Not the inside where the books are (since they are covering
up the white anyway, and who wants to prime all that space...), I only did
an interior trim/border around the edge, which isn't covered by the books.
The two side walls are painted with a sky scape on one side, and a night
scape ont he other. Both in a arts-n-crafts folksy style. I basically stole
the idea out of a newspaper article which showed a book case in the picture,
painted with the sun scene on one side, and night on the other. I did mine
differently then the one in the photo, but it looks just as good if I do say
so myself..
The beauty of painting is that you can easily match your decor, change it as
your decor changes, and if you get sick of it at any point, an afternoon,
paint and a brush easily change the whole look of it.
My computer table is left over from when we had the store, and is a nicer
looking cherry 'wood like' vanier. I'm thinking of covering the whole thing
in primer and painting it to match the book case one of these days.
Other ideas for shelving:
Wood crates. They have tons at those little popular coffee places, and
they look really neat. Stain them, stack them, use nails to hold 'em
together where necessary, and you have instant shelves (not really wide
ones, but they would be cool...)
Cardboard boxes. smallish but long ones. Take off the flaps at one end,
stack as many as desired, gluing them together as you do, then lay on their
side, cover with a thin layer of glue, let dry, flip and repeat to do all
three sides, and the interior as well as the top and bottom of the stack.
Then flip back to one of the sides and start covering with strips of paper
mache, letting it dry between layers, and not pressing on the boxes too much
until you have about ten layers at least, so that it has the extra support.
Keep covering it in paper mache until you have about 20-40 layers, or more
as needed. then prime and paint. Or, finish off with a layer of pictures
from magazines and the newspaper, or family photo's, or claender photo's and
seal with a clear sealant from a craft store (ask for a decopaugue sealer).
Alternative finish, Cement or plaster, tinted with paint (if you want),
sealed with the appropriate product. This finish lets you imbed neat
little rocks, or nick nacks, or bits of anything into the cement or plaster.
Plus, this completely hides the fact that you have a paper mache book shelf.
Another option. Attend all the garage sales you can, look for shelving. Take
all the usable finds, dismantle them for their shelves, paint, and then
stack using the cinder blocks. This will look even neater if the shelves are
not of equal size.
Glass shelving (from shelves, or tables) can be easily included with the
painted ones.
-Melanie
Alex Jay Berman wrote in message <3789ef3...@news.erols.com>...
>I can't help but think that I can do better, however, so I'd like to
>get impressions and ideas from you people: Where do you hold your
>books, and what is it that you use?
>
cariadai
England Alex?
--
trudie at bbbamford dot freeserve dot co dot uk
Alex Jay Berman <smeg...@erols.com> wrote in message
news:3789ef3...@news.erols.com...
Ajcarol1
>>As I prepare to furnish my new apartment, I find I keep running into
>>the same problem: Where and how I'm going to fit my books.
Sell the futons and buy something called a Lift-N-Store bed, which allows you
to use the entire space under your bed for one giant storage bin.
Put each kind of book into sturdy cartons and place under bed, keeping only
immediate reference works by computer. Never look at books again.
(Oh, and when you do get a cat, lock cat in bathroom before lifting
Lift-N-Store bed or you will never see cat again, either.)
Another advantage: Lift-N-Store beds use real, comfortable mattresses.
Carol Schmidt
Gerald Clough
someone dealing in used lumber. You can often find 1x10 pine that was
salvaged from the walls of old houses. You will likely have to pull a
bunch of old tacks that once held the wallpaper backing cloth, and it
will be a bit scarred up, but with a coat of polyurethane stain they
look okay. Even used painted lumber can be lightly sanded so that
remnants of the paint show and then stained. It's actually pretty chic
right now. You can build a whole wall of bookshelves for very little
money.
Ask around about guys who salvage/wreck houses. The city code
enforcement department or city inspectors keep a list of people who
salvage, since they have to have abandoned houses demolished regularly.
Around here, the wood will run maybe 10-20 cents a running foot,
especially if it's not "cleaned" (nails removed).
Alex Jay Berman wrote:
>
> As I prepare to furnish my new apartment, I find I keep running into
> the same problem: Where and how I'm going to fit my books.
snip
> I had thought to take the suggestion of a coworker and take some
> lumber, finish it, and set it as shelves with cinder blocks to hold it
> up, but a visit to the lumber yard quashed that--pine, oak, poplar,
> cherry--they're all far too expensive.
> Today, reading the paper, I lucked into an office store ad which had
> easy-assembly bookcases for ten bucks each--three two-foot shelves.
> Taking a measure of my books, I realized that I'd have to buy five of
> the buggers just to hold the books I have NOW.
> Now, this is still a bargain for me, but I'm not totally happy with
> it--I've an aversion to veneers and particleboard and whatnot.
>
> Still, it looks like I will be able to get my bookwall.
>
> I can't help but think that I can do better, however, so I'd like to
> get impressions and ideas from you people: Where do you hold your
> books, and what is it that you use?
>
> Alex Jay Berman
> -- trying to keep SOME green in my wallet--with futons, chairs, lamps,
> and a computer all to be purchased, I see all the money I've been so
> painstakingly saving ebb away ...
--
-----------------------------------------------------------
Clo...@Texas.Net
"Nothing has any value unless you know you can give it up."
-----------------------------------------------------------
Jim
wrote:
<snip>
>I had thought to take the suggestion of a coworker and take some
>lumber, finish it, and set it as shelves with cinder blocks to hold it
>up, but a visit to the lumber yard quashed that--pine, oak, poplar,
>cherry--they're all far too expensive.
<snip>
>Now, this is still a bargain for me, but I'm not totally happy with
>it--I've an aversion to veneers and particleboard and whatnot.
There's a relatively inexpensive product that might be accepatable,
but you may have trouble finding it. It's 3/4" particleboard shelving
with a coating -- it comes in black or white, and sometimes really bad
woodgrain, but doesn't look like particleboard. I've found it in
widths from 8" to 16" in 2" increments, and in lengths from 8' to 12'.
Prices have ranged from 2.98 to 22.50 per length -- it pays to shop
around.
While this products will fill the bill for a board-and-block bookcase,
it's fairly easy to built actual bookshelf-looking bookshelves from
it. If you know anyone who owns a tablesaw they probably have enough
savy to put together a good looking unit.
Another thing which I've seen done is to mount a bracket on each wall
stud, about six feet from the floor, and lay this shelving on it. That
way they're in the same room, but take up no floor space at all.
>I can't help but think that I can do better, however, so I'd like to
>get impressions and ideas from you people: Where do you hold your
>books, and what is it that you use?
>
I admit to having the world's greatest desk (until I design and build
another). There's a shelf running the length of the desk (positioned
above the bulletin board which is above the hanging files) which is
large enough to hold the most-used reference books.
Alas, I lost 87 feet of shelf space when I moved here, so the majority
of my books are in boxes until I can afford barrister bookcases, but
that isn't really as bad as it sounds -- I'm often amazed at how
quickly I can find anything, nearly as fast as when they were on
proper shelves.
J.Michael
"Infinity is a medieval concept created to comfort
people with such small minds that they cannot
understand that the universe is a closed sphere and
there is nothing beyond." -- J.K. Abaton
Jacki
>
I use plastic milk crates that gallon jugs of milk are delivered to stores
in, stacked five high and held together with twist ties. They are sturdy,
poratable and easily rearrangable, but best of all they are free if ya know
someone that works at a store.
- Jacki
(who just knows the milk crate police will be raiding her house any moment
now)
Smokey
Jacki wrote:
I use to live in fear of the milk crate police. But then I realized, hey, they
didn't see me taking them from Dairy Barn , otherwise I'd be up for crate
carting crimes already. So I'm home free!
<g>
Jenny(crates are great for carting crazed critters too)Smokey
Keltic
wrote:
>I can't help but think that I can do better, however, so I'd like to
>get impressions and ideas from you people: Where do you hold your
>books, and what is it that you use?
Four six foot bookshelves, all home made by my father, plus a little
shop bought one maybe four feet high, and one home made set of shelves
that covers nearly all of one wall in the computer room. Aside from
booze, books are my only real vice... I buy them often and in large
quantities, most often secondhand.
My dream is to upgrade from the present 2 bedroom house to a 3 or 4
bedroom and dedicate one room to be a library with floor to ceiling
shelves.
Cheers, Keltic
Alex Jay Berman
>This is not at all helpful but I'm curious - are you or your family from
>England Alex?
>
After a fashion. My grandfather and his parents spent a few years in
London--in Whitechapel, actually--after getting the hell out of
Czarist Russia, and my other grandfather--not related by blood,
though--was born in Liverpool; his family had been there for about
fifty years.
No; I've just been reading a lot of very British works of late--Gerald
Kersh, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Fritz Leiber, Ken Follett, C.S.
Forester, and the like. I suppose I'm sponging a bit, style-wise.
No; I'm really a wiseass Jewish guy from Philly, but I DO tend to
speak with a lot of Britishisms thrown in.
Alex Jay Berman
-- and the narrator of my novel speaks in a rather archaically
influenced tone, so ...
Steve Pritchard
Alex Jay Berman wrote in message <378af900...@news.erols.com>...
>No; I'm really a wiseass Jewish guy from Philly, but I DO tend to
>speak with a lot of Britishisms thrown in.
Unless, of course, the reader happens to be British. Then you sound like a
wiseass Jewish guy from Philly.
<g>
>Alex Jay Berman
>-- and the narrator of my novel speaks in a rather archaically
>influenced tone, so ...
I say old chap, exactly what it is that you are trying to imply about the
Brits? We can spot this phoney "still upper lip" style a league away,
don't you know. We appreciate that we are the doyen of the illiterate
masses but really, try to control yourselves. It is most unseemly.
Blanche Nonken
> I can't help but think that I can do better, however, so I'd like to
> get impressions and ideas from you people: Where do you hold your
> books, and what is it that you use?
You've seen ours. All you need to do is get a router, a circular
saw, and a couple of Black and Decker WorkMates.
And a bunch of 1x8s. And sealer, and stain, and brushes and
rags.
And drywall screws. Lots and lots.
Angle irons.
Bill Funke
wrote:
>As I prepare to furnish my new apartment, I find I keep running into
>the same problem: Where and how I'm going to fit my books.
>Right now, if I need to hit a reference, be it from fiction,
>nonfiction, reference, or even comic books, I can turn from my
>computer to easily pick the book I need with three steps away at the
>most, from books sitting in the cubbyholes of my dresser or lined on
>its top, on top of my credenza, on shelves, or even in bags or piles
>nearby.
>In the new apartment, I plan to have a computer room in the second,
>smaller bedroom, but I don't think there will be enough room to make
>my computer room my library as well (as I've seen done to beautiful
>success in the homes of the MWers I've visited).
>It looks like I'll have a wall of books in the living room.
>This, of course, is easier said than done, especially on a budget.
>I had thought to take the suggestion of a coworker and take some
>lumber, finish it, and set it as shelves with cinder blocks to hold it
>up, but a visit to the lumber yard quashed that--pine, oak, poplar,
>cherry--they're all far too expensive.
>Today, reading the paper, I lucked into an office store ad which had
>easy-assembly bookcases for ten bucks each--three two-foot shelves.
>Taking a measure of my books, I realized that I'd have to buy five of
>the buggers just to hold the books I have NOW.
>Now, this is still a bargain for me, but I'm not totally happy with
>it--I've an aversion to veneers and particleboard and whatnot.
>
>Still, it looks like I will be able to get my bookwall.
>
>I can't help but think that I can do better, however, so I'd like to
>get impressions and ideas from you people: Where do you hold your
>books, and what is it that you use?
>
>Alex Jay Berman
>-- trying to keep SOME green in my wallet--with futons, chairs, lamps,
>and a computer all to be purchased, I see all the money I've been so
>painstakingly saving ebb away ...
Getting rid of the house and moving into a one bedroom apartment
seemed like a good idea until the book problem popped up. (Not that I
didn't see it coming, even though they seemed so happy in those big
boxes stacked up in several corners.)
The answer to space, and money, is to use those walls--I have 25 six
to eight foot shelves hanging off the walls here, most of them with
books. Don't ask how I also fit a darkroom, a small woodworking shop,
and 10 years of NY Times Book Reviews in here too.
The place looked pretty big before I moved in.
Anyway, the dirty little secret to bookshelves is that you don't need
the 10 or 12 inch clear shelving you saw for up to 50 bucks a board at
your local Home Despot. If you're like most people, most of your
books will fit perfectly on 6" shelves. You can find another place
for the phone books, coffee table art books, and those huge cookbooks
with the pretty pictures but no real recipes.
Head back to the lumber yard and see what they want for 6" common pine
boards in 6' or 8' lengths. The knots are ok, especially if you're
going to paint the stuff, but watch out for serious warping and
twisting. Even cheaper are 1x2"s and 1x3"s,if they're in not too bad
shape, and they can be glued together to make 6", or just shoved up
against each other if you feel lucky.
My shelves are attached to the walls by angle irons, wood hangers that
I made myself, and a couple of other methods that I'd like to say I
invented, but have probably been around for years somewhere. If you
aren't into keyhole slot hangers, routers, or boxes and boxes of
drywall screws, you can use the cinder block method. No cinder
blocks? Think recycled coffee cans.
Belle Harper
>As I prepare to furnish my new apartment, I find I keep running into
>the same problem: Where and how I'm going to fit my books.
<big snip>
You mentioned buying book shelves for $10 apiece and that not working very
well. My dh and I solved our book problems once and for all by building a
library. I'm not suggesting that you do likewise, but more and more of my
friends who are readers and writers are putting in real libraries where
formal living and dining rooms and extra bedrooms--even just a bare wall or
two--once existed.
Another fellow suggested going to the lumberyard and buying boards and I
agree with him. Most people who don't build things for a living or as a
hobby are intimidated by the business of using a hammer, nails (or screw
gun), and boards. The process of building shelves actually isn't nearly as
intimidating as one would think. At Home Depot, Borders, or other building
or book stores, you can invest less than $20 in a book that will show you,
step by step, how to build good, wall-to-ceiling shelves. My friend, whose
husband of many years left her, has built her own book shelves and never
built anything before that. If she can do it, I'll bet you can, too. We like
the shelves that have the adjustable metal strips in the back so that, as
the need arises, you can adjust the height of your shelves.
Building shelves that go from floor to ceiling is helpful because then you
maximize your storage space. We turned our formal living and dining rooms
into a library, complete with wood floors and floor-to-ceiling shelves. We
have thousands of books in there, in spite of my husband's prediction that
we'd "never fill up all those shelves!" I love it-- it's my favorite room.
We have a nice library table and four chairs, two camel-backed love seats
and a tapestry-covered arm chair and two reading lamps. It's lovely and
everyone enjoys it.
Upstairs, where I write, I also have book shelves. I keep the books I use
for reference regularly near my computer (Writer's Market, Chicago Manual of
Style, APA Publication Manual, The Essential Researcher, dictionaries,
DSM-IV, etc.). I also keep any books I'm using for research on my current
book nearby. When I've finished a ms, I move them downstairs to the
appropriate library section. You might try keeping your working books near
your computer and your pleasure books in a separate area, and who says you
have to have a dining room with bare walls? You can put floor to ceiling
bookshelves on a couple of walls and add some character to an otherwise
typical apartment, duplex or house.
I'd like to know how other writers have handled their books. Nice subject.
--
Belle Harper