A better bookcase

Being an English major and all-around book lover, I have a lot of books.  Even though I have (finally) jumped on the digital books bandwagon, I still cannot part with my old fashioned paper books.  I like the way they look and I find them comforting. 

However, when I got my new chair, I noticed just how much of a royal mess my book case was.  It was a bad backdrop and dark corner of my apartment.

Awesome chair, total mess behind it.

I had run out of shelf space and was stacking things on the floor, I kept piles of magazines thinking I would want them someday (I didn't) and, perhaps worst of all, I had organized my books alphabetically and by genre.  You can imagine what happened when I got a new book--the entire shelf had to be shifted.

So on my first day of summer break, I spent some time purging my book collection and storing some books that I still wanted but didn't need out on the shelves. 

First I emptied all the shelves and sorted them into piles of "donate" "store" and "keep."  With the keep pile, I stacked the books by similar height. 

After doing this, I began putting them on the shelves, starting with the tallest and biggest books at the bottom.  I also made sure they were all flush with the edge.  It took a lot of fussing around. 
While putting books on the shelves, I broke up the vertical arrangement of books with some horizontal stacks--keeping in mind what was below.  You don't want each shelf to be identical, try to create a zig-zag so the eye moves around.

Finally, I accessorized with some items I had around the house--many of which had been sitting in corners looking for a home for 3 years...

The final result...

Much more visually pleasing and interesting

Vignette One: Vintage Anna Karenina books I wanted to feature and some small vintage glass jars.  No idea what their original purpose was, but I am starting to put mini collections in them.  One of them currently has a bunch of vintage keys 

The top shelf--I actually ran out of books!  But this gave me the perfect place to feature my favorite book in my collection: a 2nd edition Rebecca from 1941.  I also have that beat up paper back from the 70s.  I refuse to part with it!  It was my mom's once and then she suggested I read it.  I end up reading this book about once a year and that paperback version of Rebecca has been with me since high school.  I also put some pretty votive with electric tea lights and a needlepoint vanity tray.

A glass bowl I've had for years that just sat in a corner and 2 decorative "carpet balls" I made out of vintage dictionary pages.

Vintage mason jars and dried lavender

Really neat collection of vintage wooden spools with pretty thread still on them. 

Part of my collection of vintage prescription bottles.  They're a weird thing to collect, but I just think they are so cool.  I have a thing for tiny glass jars

Lace vanity tray, neat jars and vintage Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights

A much better background for the chair!  Now what to do about that desk area....