the books are ganging up on us again

[cellio]

We ran out of shelf space (and pile space) again, so, having long since filled all the good spaces in the house with bookcases, we started eyeing up the not-so-good spaces. This led us to re-evaluate the dining room.

The shorter, wider, not-very-deep cabinet on one wall (holding linens) was clearly not holding its weight. Table linens are important -- and, also, that cabinet was holding dice and other small gaming supplies -- so eliminating that function wouldn't do. What I really wanted was a taller, narrower chest of drawers. This turns out to be hard; everyone expects your dining-room storage to be low and wide so that you can put a lighted glass shelving unit on top of it to show off your fine china. But recently we prevailed -- the magic phrase turns out to be "lingerie cupboard" and you find it as part of a very few bedroom sets -- and the resulting chest of drawers, a glorious 52" or so high and about 22" wide, was delivered a few days ago. The original cabinet has been unloaded into it, leaving a stretch of wall that can hold two half-height bookcases. (Other features of the room prevent full-height bookcases.)

Now, the wall with this cabinet is about four feet wide before large windows kick in, so this leaves room for a 24" bookcase. That shouldn't be hard, right? Most bookcases are 30" or 36" wide; most 24" ones are also short. We found one that's 48" high online in a color that doesn't clash with the rest of the room (or, most importantly, the cupboard that will be right next to it), so tonight we ordered it. We'll have to assemble it ourselves, but bookcases aren't too bad for that. The vendor has a sense of humor: returns are permitted within 30 days in the original packaging.

In the end this project should net us roughly 24 shelf-feet of bookcase, which I'm sure we will fill up distressingly quickly. Such are the challenges faced by bibliophiles.

Comments

[alienor.livejournal.com]

We just bought a dresser for our dining room. I forget the manufacturer, but it has nice ball bearing drawers (like a toolbox) so I'm not worried about putting too much weight in the drawers.

I have 2 drawers full of tea. In a 3 ft wide dresser. *sigh*

[cellio]

I gathered that you like tea quite a bit, but I didn't realize just how much of it you drink. :-)

[alienor.livejournal.com]

Obviously I like buying it more than drinking it! LOL!

[fauxklore]

I am on the verge of having furniture custom made so I can get what I actually want.

At least books are good insulation.

[cellio]

We did that for some hard-to-fit places in the house. It's worth it in the long run if you can't get what you want otherwise.

I don't know how much this insulation matters in our hundred-year-old house, but I'll take it.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Books, glorious books...

[cellio]

Indeed!

One (easy-to-satisfy) constraint is that the books about food glorious food must remain in the corner closest to the kitchen. (I don't have room in the kitchen for the cookbooks...)

[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

I've occasionally thought about setting up a trust fund when I die to keep my apartment open as a library. What with the people who don't return books, in about two decades all the books might fit double-stacked on the shelves!

[cellio]

But you should arrange some way to send out overdue notices anyway -- maybe a bar-code scanner wired into the door combined with a bot. :-)

[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

I did get (and hack) some of the CueCat barcode scanners when they were free! Not a bad idea. They use a PS/2 keyboard interface, though...

[patsmor.livejournal.com]

The night manager at the residence hotel I'm staying at and I started a lending library for the hotel last night. A friend sent me a book; S (the manager) mentioned that all my friends are re-using Amazon boxes. I mentioned that I have bought some used books recently, but now have more books than I want -- in a 500 sq ft (I think it's really 460) studio there is NO room to keep excess books.

S was missing reading -- hadn't had a book to read in a few weeks. So together we founded the ExtendedStayAmerica Austin NW lending library!

I brought a pretty box down with 10-12 books I enjoyed but don't want; he chose one, and now anyone who wants to borrow or donate can contribute. I'm considering putting the box in the laundry room next to the tourist brochures.

Edited to add: When I eventually settle and have all my stuff moved back with me, I'll definitely have to buy bookshelves -- I sold most of mine before we packed the POD.

[cellio]

"Need a book, take a book; have a book, leave a book"? :-)

[patsmor.livejournal.com]

Perfect!