My Completed & Decorated Bookcases

After several years of planning and months of labor, I finally have the bookcase of my dreams (or the closest I can get to it). If you love to see other people’s bookcases as I do, here’s a peek at my completed bookshelves and a sourced list of my decor.

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As far back as I have memories, I have always dreamed of having my own home library, with wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves (complete with a ladder, OF COURSE). Have you seen that Beauty and the Beast meme about fantasizing about the library more than the prince? Yep. That was me.

When we moved into our current (and hopefully forever) home, as much as I loved so many things about it, I was pretty bummed to realize that there was no possibility for my dream library. No room we could convert or space we could spare.

Oh well, it was just a silly childhood fantasy, and I counted my blessings and moved on.

Turns out, I had moved on, but Levon hadn’t. What I put aside as an impossibility, he was planning to make a reality.

After several years of dreaming and scheming, he enlisted my dad’s help, and together they built me this BEAUTIFUL wall of bookcases. (Seriously, my photography does not do it justice.)

It may not be an entire room (and there’s no ladder #shucks), but they gave me the very next best thing. And they literally made my dreams come true. I may or may not have (ok, I totally did) shed a tear or two.

Several people asked to see them when they were filled, so today, I’m showing them off in all their organized, decorated glory!

How I Organized My Bookcases

From searching Pinterest as I gathered decorating inspiration, I learned people have very different philosophies on organizing bookshelves. Some organize by subject (as it should be), some organize by *shudder* color (the monsters), and some don’t organize at all but simply put their books on the shelves willy-nilly (I don’t understand those people at all).

I’m teasing, of course, and if you organize your books by color (or not at all), we can still be friends.

But everything within me ~~wants~~ needs to organize my books alphabetically within genre and subject. I’d say it was my library background, but truth be told, I’ve been organizing my books this way since I was a child. My room was always an absolute disaster, but by golly, my books were categorized and alphabetized!

That being said, here’s the quick rundown of how I chose to shelve these books:

**Note: This isn’t my entire book collection. I have another bookcase in my bedroom with Bibles, Bible studies, devotionals, writing/blogging books, and my (rather large) stack of to-be-read books.

Far bookcase: Fiction

Top shelf – classics (I’m hoping to expand this collection!)

Second shelf – mysteries + romance

Third shelf – general fiction + inspirational fiction

Fourth shelf – Kids’ chapter books (aka our read-alouds)

Fifth shelf – Currently empty! I don’t have a lot of fiction yet, so I don’t have anything to put on that shelf until my collection grows. The empty shelf bothers me, but I could not bring myself to mix nonfiction into my fiction bookcase. #ihaveaproblem

Do you have some fiction recommendations? Share them with me in the comments below!

Bottom shelf – Bin of Christmas books + this cute pillow

Middle bookcase: General Nonfiction

Top shelf – Historical nonfiction

Second shelf – Biographies/Autobiographies + General nonfiction

Third shelf – Self-help

Fourth shelf – Business & economics (my field of study in my undergrad life, and still a point of interest)

Fifth shelf – Cooking & Gardening + Levon’s collection (he’s definitely a listener more than a reader! 😉 )

Bottom shelf – Photo albums & photobooks

Near Bookcase: Christian nonfiction + Family

Top shelf – Financial + Christian reference-ish books

Second shelf – General Christian Living

Third shelf – Women’s Issues + Homemaking

Fourth shelf – Motherhood + Parenting

Fifth shelf – Marriage

Bottom shelf – Decor (see below for details)

Decor On My Bookcases

Since these were my dream bookcases and all, I wanted to invest some time and money into doing it up right. Trust me, I am no decorator, but I found some things I love. And I think it came together nicely!

Do you like some of the items you see? Here is a list of some of the items on my bookcases and where I got them.

“Between the pages of a book is a lovely place to be” box sign — Amazon