It’s safe to say that it’s every bibliophile’s dream to own a roomy library a la Beast’s in the famous Disney movie. Unfortunately, not everyone has the luxury of floor-to-ceiling shelves or even the space to build those.
As a result, your book collection may sometimes suffer. Either you give some books away to make room for new ones, walk straight past bookstores to avoid the temptation of hoarding more or simply dream of a time when you’ll finally have the space you need to properly store and show your collection off.
Until then, try some of these creative ways of storing your beloved books.
Behind the bedroom door
If you think you have more stuff than space, it’s probably because you’re not looking hard enough for the latter. There are tons of unused or underutilised spaces at home and one of them is the small area behind a door. With a few slabs of wood, you can create a narrow shelf that will make perfect use of that empty space.
Wall corner
Forget corner tables—turn the space between the corners of your walls into a shelf space instead. As with a behind-the-door shelf, all you need for a corner shelf are some slabs of wood and a little manpower and you can turn an otherwise useless corner into a stunning space to showcase your books.
Coffee table
Books are great conversation starters, so why not lay yours out where you receive visitors? If you’re not a picture book or a coffee table book kind of person, literary works with great covers or intriguing titles can add interest to your living room. To make the most out of this, choose a coffee table that has storage underneath it so you have somewhere to keep your other books.
Under the stairs
The space under the stairs is one of the most underutilised areas of a home, so why not plan to make it a nook for your books during your staircase design and installation process? You can simply fasten planks of wood in the same length as each of the steps and put support structures under each plank. The sloped design of a staircase creates a natural hollow in each step, making it a perfect place to display your books.
Wheeled utility cart
Who says you can’t bring your shelf everywhere you go? With wheeled utility carts, you can bring your favourite reads from one room to another. A bonus is you don’t need to have construction skills for this type of book storage. Simply purchase a cart from an online shop or a nearby furniture store, assemble it and you’re good to go.
Any flat surface
Windowsills, entryway tables, fireplaces—you can store your books on literally any flat surface. But instead of stacking them horizontally, you can still keep them upright with the help of bookends. Like using wheeled utility carts, construction know-how isn’t required for this type of book storage and display. Just choose unique bookends and you’ll have books lining every available surface in your home.
Whether you’re short on space or you simply cannot be bothered with bookcases, there are tons of alternative ways to display and organise your books. With a bit of creativity and imagination, any space at home can be a place in which to store your books.