Shelf Space

I have been trying to stop myself from buying books lately not because money is short, but because I have no shelf space. Ever since the flood last year, my room has been made into semi-storage that can only be livable. See, the flood destroyed my brother’s room so he no longer has a closet or a desk or whatever. He may be moving out soon since he’s getting married in a month, so having no storage is okay with him (I think). So now, my room stores his clothes, other clothes and of course, my things. I don’t sleep or hang out much my room unless necessary, so it’s really just more of a storage room than an actual bedroom.

That just made me realize that I haven’t had my own bedroom for almost a year now. OH.

But I digress. So I have to stop myself from buying books because my shelf is an absolute mess. My bookshelf used to only house books, and it was my favorite parts of the room. I mean, look how neat and organized it looked before (photo taken March last year):

My bookshelf in 2009

Of course that picture isn’t accurate since I added a lot more books after my birthday. But I always tried to keep it organized since this is the bookshelf I had been waiting for for how many years.

Fast forward to a year and a half (and again, the flood) later, this is how my shelf (and immediate areas around it) looked like:

Look at that bookish mess.

My shelf has become a house for not only books but for other things because I lost my desk and my original bed to the flood. Most of the other stuff in my headboard and my table were stuffed in the available space on my shelf, making it quite a mess. The books in front of the shelf on the table are the new books I bought for the past months, which had no room on the shelf itself. See why I am hesitant to buy new books? It’s going to add to that mess. Ebooks are more convenient!

Here's how it looks like without the table in front.

But I digress again. Since today is a non-working holiday, I decided to finally, finally tackle the mess that is my shelf and put some semblance of order in it. I also wanted to see if I can clear up some shelf space by selecting books that I didn’t like and/or know I won’t read anymore to give away/donate/put up for prizes/whichever.

So how did I tackle the book shelf cleaning?

Well first, you take them out of the shelf.

All over the floor. And the bed.

I just basically pulled all the books out of the shelf and set them on the floor. The good thing about this main shelf is that I know all the books there, so I know I wouldn’t be surprised and have “Oh, I didn’t know I had that book!” moments. If I wasn’t pressed for time, I would’ve cataloged all these books in my computer.

Oh but you think those are the only books I have? Of course not. I have more on top of my dresser:

More books!

I can consider that my middle grade shelf. Hah. Most of the books I have there are the books I got growing up, gifts and Book Sale books. Yes, as you can see, I have a Full House Stephanie book. I am not ashamed. :P Behind the first row of books there are my Animorphs, Sweet Valley Twins and Babysitters Club collection. Again, I am not ashamed. ;)

I did not have the time to clean that part of my room, though, because like I said, I was pressed for time and I needed to finish cleaning my room by the afternoon. Besides, that part of my room isn’t really visible…until you look up. :P

Once all books are out of the shelf, I dusted it…then took a moment to look at it in all its empty glory:

Empty shelf = sad shelf.

The white stuff on the shelf are the parts my cousin painted over after they cleaned it after the flood. That’s where you can see how deep the flood was inside our house. Thankfully, I had cleared the middle second level shelf so no books were damaged there. However, I wasn’t expecting the flood to reach that high, so there were still books on the second and third shelves on the sides…so the flood reached some of my books. I had to say goodbye to some books I haven’t read yet, as well as some favorites like the first three books of the Shopaholic series and the Jessica Darling series. :(

But let’s move on. Once that has been dusted off, it’s time to sort out the books into the shelves! This is the fun part. :)

All fixed!

See how different it looked from how it was originally. Here’s how I fixed it:

1. First row, middle section – Here we can find my absolute favorite books. These are the books I’d recommend over and over to everyone, and books I’d read more than once. This includes my Sarah Dessen collection, most of the Christian chick lit that I really loved, Marisa delos Santos’ Love Walked In and Belong to Me among others. :)
2. First shelf, left and right side – these are the books that I like a lot, but not really love. Get what I mean? These are the books that I have read more than once, but I don’t swear by their genius. I just like them, and I can’t really bear to part with them, at least not yet.
3. Second row, middle section – It’s basically the same as the previous one, but these contain my Dekker and Peretti collection, and where my Jasper Fforde collection would go once my best friend returns them.
4. Second shelf, left side – This shelf houses my non-fiction/Christian/self-help books. Honestly, I hardly really open these books, but most of these helped me through college and a lot of difficult times, so they deserve their own shelf. I acquired most of these before I went for fiction.
5. Second shelf, right side – Books about writing and NaNoWriMo anthologies. I haven’t really read these all, too.
6. Third shelf, left and right side – The left side contains other books that I can’t really classify if I like them well enough or not, and my Bible and devotionals. The right side contains Harry Potter 1, 2, 5 and 7 (yes, I don’t have the complete set).

See the empty shelves at the bottom? What goes there now?

Books for giveaway

There they are: books for giveaway. I haven’t really sorted this out, but I know for sure that these are books that I won’t read ever again. I will write another post about that. But all these went to the bottom shelves. :)

Of course I had to put the other stuff back in, the ones that aren’t supposed to be on the shelf on the first place but because I had no desk or headboard, they all go there. But look!

Ta-da!

Can you see the difference from how it was before? See? Shelf space: I has it! Yay!

Oh and I totally forgot: the one on the top shelf? That’s my TBR pile. A closer look:

To-be read pile! O_O

It only used to be as high as the Narnia boxed set. Now it’s not. :o Last count of unread print books: 52. Remember, that’s just print. Ebooks inside Astrid the Kindle are unaccounted for. :P

I finished cleaning at around two in the afternoon (I also organized my shoes and my dresser) and right now I’m happy that my bookshelf is all organized and such. I know I will probably mess it up again once I get new books or make some changes, but that’s why I need to weed this out often.

We’re planning to have our house renovated and expanded so we’ll have a second floor, so this shelf and arrangement are just temporary. Imagine the horror of having to move all the books out of my room — I might need the help of a roadside assistance club just to get all them out. Anyway, I’m hoping to have bigger and better shelves made once I have my new room (by God’s grace). Is it too much to ask for something like this?

Pretty. (c/o Zokk Furniture)

Dream on, Tina. But who knows, right? I may still have my dream bookshelf. I will have it, just you wait!

It was a very productive day for me. How was your Friday? :)