Caution: shelving in progress
Dec. 10th, 2017 06:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustWe have now reached the point where all the books which a) we can find and b) belong on the new shelves have been shelved. Also, work has been suspended in the interests of making the room fit to accommodate D. and valydiarosada who will be sleeping in it tomorrow night. But this is how it looks so far:
The window wall is symmetrical, so there's another set of shelves off the picture to the left, but otherwise you can see the whole thing. There's enough length of shelving to accommodate all the books which were previously on a variety of bookshelves in that room, as there should be, and room for more, which makes a pleasant change: SF to the left, crime fiction to the right and general fiction in between. The bookcase which used to be in the alcove is now squeezed in between the cupboard and the dresser, and contains a variety of biography, memoirs, essays and a few volumes of history which might as well go there for the time being.
I'm pleased with how it looks, and with the details of the top and base. Only one complaint: We discussed how high the shelves should be, and I said that every shelf needed to be tall enough to take every book - not big picture books, but normal hardbacks, as I'd be mixing hardbacks and paperbacks on every shelf. By the time he came to make the shelves (a couple of months later), the carpenter had forgotten this, and made the top two shelves smaller, to make the best use of the space. I understand the logic, but it means running two alphabetical sequences, the smaller books on the top two shelves, and the larger ones below, until they merge - and right now we aren't so desperate to maximise space that this seems worthwhile. Maybe I'll see things differently in a year or so, as the shelves fill up...
It is a joy to be reunited with many favourite books which have been inaccessible in boxes for the last year or so. Also, I have found a copy of The Dean's Watch.
valydiarosada who will be sleeping in it tomorrow night. But this is how it looks so far:The window wall is symmetrical, so there's another set of shelves off the picture to the left, but otherwise you can see the whole thing. There's enough length of shelving to accommodate all the books which were previously on a variety of bookshelves in that room, as there should be, and room for more, which makes a pleasant change: SF to the left, crime fiction to the right and general fiction in between. The bookcase which used to be in the alcove is now squeezed in between the cupboard and the dresser, and contains a variety of biography, memoirs, essays and a few volumes of history which might as well go there for the time being.
I'm pleased with how it looks, and with the details of the top and base. Only one complaint: We discussed how high the shelves should be, and I said that every shelf needed to be tall enough to take every book - not big picture books, but normal hardbacks, as I'd be mixing hardbacks and paperbacks on every shelf. By the time he came to make the shelves (a couple of months later), the carpenter had forgotten this, and made the top two shelves smaller, to make the best use of the space. I understand the logic, but it means running two alphabetical sequences, the smaller books on the top two shelves, and the larger ones below, until they merge - and right now we aren't so desperate to maximise space that this seems worthwhile. Maybe I'll see things differently in a year or so, as the shelves fill up...
It is a joy to be reunited with many favourite books which have been inaccessible in boxes for the last year or so. Also, I have found a copy of The Dean's Watch.
no subject
Date: 2017-12-10 08:34 pm (UTC)It looks really nice!
Also, I have found a copy of The Dean's Watch.
I looked forward to hearing what you think of it. I can remember that I liked it, but not much about why.
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Date: 2017-12-11 10:34 am (UTC)I hope you will come and try it out, if you are ever in the neighbourhood!
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Date: 2017-12-10 09:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-12-11 10:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-12-10 11:30 pm (UTC)And when you fill those up and need more, it looks like you've got room for a row along the tops (using free-standing bookends). Though you'd probably need a step-stool for those, so you'd want to break alphabetization for that row anyway to put the seldom-accessed stuff there.
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Date: 2017-12-11 10:37 am (UTC)Also, what you say is true, but at the moment I am really enjoying the sensation of not having everything piled on top of everything else...
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Date: 2017-12-11 12:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-12-11 10:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-12-11 12:43 pm (UTC)You've not wasted time getting 'em filled up any more than we did, I notice! :o)
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Date: 2017-12-11 03:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-12-11 07:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-12-12 11:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-12-16 11:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-12-17 03:01 pm (UTC)Briefly!