Name: Spreading the Feast Gathering
Start: 2025-07-11T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-07-12T23:59:59-05:00
Location: LaGrange, KY

Tagged: book storage, Home Library, organizing, storage

This topic has 13 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 7 months ago by sheraz.

Viewing 14 posts - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)

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November 1, 2013 at 6:08 pm
Sara B.
Participant
What is the best way to store books longterm? I have all the books we are not using this year in boxes, which would be OK if I could find room in the house to store them, but most likely they will end up in the garage unless someone gets a major urge to purge out some closets. We are in MN, so cold winters and humid, hot summers. I know boxes are not going to cut it if they end up outside. We also don’t have the funds to rent a storage unit, and I don’t know of any heated ones out here in rural country, anyway. 🙂
Ideas or suggestions?
(And someone please tell me how I can buy another bookshelf, re-organize them all, and then end up with MORE boxes to store than I had BEFORE I bought the new shelf??? LOL)
November 2, 2013 at 2:58 am
Mysterious Lady in Pink
Participant
I am facing a similar dilemma. The only storage we have is 3 bedroom closets… which of course are actually being used for things other than books. We have some shelving in the garage, and my extra books are in (gasp) cardboard boxes out there. Yes, I know. That is less than ideal.
In our previous home we had a “library” of sorts in the unfinished basement with a big u-shaped configuration and all “extra” books down there. Quite nice, and kids would wander down and pick through them.
But here… no basement. No storage. It is what it is. I do have a lot more e-books now because of our long-term space constraints, and I’m fine with that. But what to do with all of the boxes of books that remain?
Sorry, I’m no help, obviously, but maybe my bump to the thread will prompt someone else to chime in.
November 2, 2013 at 6:09 am
Wings2fly
Participant
I am in the process now of reorganizing our books.
A year ago, I put some books in a box in the closet, to try that out. We have space issues too. I regretted it because they were not handy and were covered up by other heavy boxes. Even though I typed a list of titles first, I still could not remember what books I had in there. Sometimes I just knew I had a particular book and could not find it. Now I have pulled that box out and put them on the shelf. This helps me remember what I have since I am very visual. You never know when you may want to use that book that is in storage.
What kind of shelving are you using now? The best thing I did was get tall, deep, heavy shelving. Floor to ceiling shelving on a full wall would be ideal, but would not work well in our home. Money is tight so I stalked craigslist for a while and found a great set under “entertainment center” for $250 for 8′. These are heavy, high quality and thick. Dh said it was like moving a safe and he used an appliance dolly. The two 30″ bookshelves are each 16″ deep. This is great for large books. For smaller books, I put them in small baskets to fit two rows on the shelf to utilize the whole shelf space in an orderly way. The tv armoire will be repurposed to a clothing armoire by hanging a rod inside, which helped solve a closet dilemma in a bedroom. I sorted through books and got rid of some less desirable ones too.
In short, do not store books where not easily accessible. Make good use of your limited space with proper shelving. Keep only the good books that you and your family will likely use and enjoy and learn a lot from. I have no idea what your home and library look like, so this may not have been very helpful to you.
November 2, 2013 at 11:01 am
RobinP
Participant
Jan Bloom is fond of saying, ” Books like to live where we live.” They are very susceptible to climate differences and I’ve seen tragic results from pests when stored where they can get through boxes. Be creative. I encourage you to read my friend Liz’s excellent post from awhile back. The 900 square foot space she is talking about that was the home of her family for a time was one of the most charming places I have ever been. It can be done very inexpensively.
http://www.livingbookslibrary.com/2012/08/living-with-living-books-part-2-space.html
November 2, 2013 at 1:42 pm
greenebalts
Participant
I recently posted about this exact issue….

http://reflectionsfromdrywoodcreek.blogspot.com/2013/10/my-love-of-history-grows.html

We’ve outgrown our “school room”, for lack of a better term. My dh did build shelves in the garage and over summer I moved the bulk of our history collection there. This does make me a bit nervous since many of these books are out of print and very hard to replace. However, I want them accessible for all to see so they get used, read, and cherished. I’m afraid if I pack them away for a more suitable climate condition, they will be forgotten. The books are all stored along interior walls adjoining heated living space. They are dry, up off the cement, and we walk through, use, and see this area multiple times a day.

I have our Landmark and Childhood of Famous American collections down a hall in the living room of our home and I find they don’t get chosen as much as the history books on the shelves in the garage. So I think visibilty is key!!

My dream is to open a living library at some point. We just need to find the time and money to finish space. For now, I’m putting it in God’s hands 🙂

Blessings,
Melissa
November 3, 2013 at 10:41 pm
Sara B.
Participant
I should have mentioned, my husband will not allow any more bookshelves right now. I am lucky I got that one I did because I rearranged our schoolroom/office and forced space for one. Robin, you’ve probably read my post on the Yahoo library group. I simply can’t have a mess of boxes and shelves like crazy right now. My dh just won’t go for it right now. I need the books I’m not using right now out of his sight, the sooner the better. Let’s just say, it’s a sticking point in our marriage right now, so I want to get these out of the way asap. I have already purged all but 8 small twaddle books that the kids wouldn’t let me get rid of (yet). There are only awesome living books in our collection now, ready for his blessing of a living books library someday (if I ever get that blessing). I am working on finding space under beds, but most boxes I have are too big. So I will need to come up with something else.
November 3, 2013 at 11:49 pm
RobinP
Participant
Ah! Sara, I glanced at it but am very behind on computer work! I didn’t connect the dots! Sorry! I’m so sorry it’s hard. I’ve been in those places where dh and I seemed to not be on the same page sometimes (and in the early days of library planning this was one of the areas at times.) Being the strong-willed person I am (Charlotte would call me weak-willed at times) it was difficult for me to submit to his wishes but was always blessed when I did. Sometimes I got “my way” sometimes I didn’t but I’m always in God’s will when I submit to my husbands authority. I will earnestly be praying God’s will for your library. And that you find space for those treasures.
Blessings, sister!
November 4, 2013 at 3:13 am
Wings2fly
Participant
I am so sorry your husband won’t allow more bookshelves. I did noot have room for more shelves, but I recently “replaced” the bookshelves I had for taller and deeper shelves that store more for the same wall space. You can get creative and re-purpose other things. One of the bottom cabinets in the kitchen was not being used much, so it stores books. I put some books on the bottom shelf of my china cabinet. I have seasonal decor in the bottom china cabinet that I can move to a closet and store books or toys or puzzles down there instead. Have you seen those storage ottomans at Walmart or Target? The square ones are $20 and will store many books without anyone knowing; it just looks like an ottoman. But it would keep your books safer and handier than in the garage. As a bonus, it is extra seating. You can also repurpose drawers in a chest to store books. You could store other things in the garage and repurpose that space for books.
November 4, 2013 at 3:55 am
6boys1girl
Participant
An idea that occurred to me when reading your last post: Could you put drawers on caster wheels under you beds and organize the books in those? You could then label them with topic/subject and still access them easily for use.
-Rebecca
November 4, 2013 at 9:47 pm
Mysterious Lady in Pink
Participant
i like that idea, Rebecca! It might work for one bed here. Does anyone know if you can buy something like that ready to go?
November 4, 2013 at 11:04 pm
6boys1girl
Participant
I don’t know if you can get them already to go. We just took some old drawers we had (the dresser had mostly disintegrated), drilled holes into the bottom of the drawers and put the caster wheels in. It was pretty easy. I think we found the wheels at Walmart.
Just make sure you get the caster wheels you want. There are two kinds – ones that only moves front to back and ones that can move in circles.
-Rebecca
November 7, 2013 at 5:49 am
anniepeter
Participant
I didn’t read all posts…so please forgive if this is redundant…but the best thing I know of is an idea that our good friends and neighbors who homeschooled also taught us. they put up shelves a few inches below the ceiling when they ran out of wall space below. We did the same when we lived there. And will probably do it again at our next house. It works well for the books that are not in current or frequent use. Best to you!
November 7, 2013 at 2:04 pm
curlywhirly
Participant
Hi Sara,
Sorry to hear about the several facets of your book storage dilemma. If you haven’t already, my suggestion would be to to add a second layer of books on the shelves you already have. On some of my shelves I have 2 or 3 layers and it doesn’t look unsightly or odd at all. In fact after visting several times I have had people comment they are amazed at how many books I have tucked away on my shelves when they actually see me retrieve something from them, they “never would have guessed”. It does cut down on visibility of the books in back, but as far as not damaging the books it is the best solution I have found.
Books don’t like cold, damp, hot, humid, or being stored laying flat or on their sides. If a book is stored over time other than upright on a shelf it can damage the spine. When I had my book business and had to store my merchandise on shelves in the shed I used http://www.damprid.com/ to help control the climate and keep from damaging the books. It helped a lot.
November 7, 2013 at 3:42 pm
sheraz
Participant
You can buy supports for your bedframes that will lift your bed a couple of inches higher off the floor in order to fit more things under it. Bricks work well too, if you don’t want to spend money.
You can also buy plastic storage tubs with wheels on them to slide under your bed. As long as my books were in the house and therefore in climate and pest controlled conditions, I just placed them in boxes.
When I had to move them to the garage, I placed them in plastic storage containers to keep rodents and bugs out of them. While I agree that it is not an ideal long term solution, it is better to do that while you figure out a more permanent solution. That will make it easier to work out a plan with your husband. 😉