For many, reading has always been a popular pastime, hobby, and love affair. Now, BookTok (a community of book lovers on TikTok) has introduced more people to the joy of reading, storage ideas, and organisation to make your shelves look beautiful.
However, if you’ve got a lot of books to store and display, it can be challenging to know where to start, especially if you lack storage space. Here at The Range, we want to help you get the most out of your storage options while ensuring your books look pretty for your next video when guests come over and for your satisfaction.
The hallway is often an overlooked area of the home. You might already have a shoe rack or somewhere to hang your coat in the hallway, but you can add floating shelves to your wall to utilise the bare space. Storing books in the hallway can create a warm, homely environment as soon as you walk through the door, and if you’re placing the great fiction classics there with some non-fiction, you can make a brilliant first impression with visitors.
There’s a good chance you’ve got a few awkward areas around your home that you’re unsure what to do with. It could be a gap between the wardrobe and the wall, little recesses, and corners of the house where the room shape is a little bit weird to account for an ill-judged room expansion that was put in thirty years ago. There’s always somewhere that can be repurposed! Measure the area and pop to your local DIY shop, where they can help you cut wood to fit your gap exactly (or, if you’re good at these things, you can have a go yourself). Once you’ve installed your bespoke shelf, you can start storing your books in this previously old, ugly gap.
One of the biggest tips for stowing objects in small spaces is to store them upwards. This means adding shelving to higher parts of the wall or getting a skinny and tall bookcase to take up less floor space. This floor-to-ceiling storage option will make your room feel like a grand library, and you might even get a step stool to help you reach the books on taller shelves, making it feel even more like a fancy library!
You might be missing significant areas for your books by being too prescriptivist on what counts as a shelf. Anything with spare space and a flat surface can be considered a shelf – on top of your wardrobe, on your desk, on the nightstand, or even on top of your fridge! If you’ve got a space in your TV unit or kitchen cupboard, this could be a great way to add more book storage without splashing out on more cabinets or units.
Some people like to stack books neatly on the floor to save on buying a new shelf and create a modern feel in their space, and others might prefer to buy a trolley to keep their books in. The benefit of a trolley is that they’re on wheels, so you can move it to any room in the home to give you more space as needed. Some people like to stack a few books on the edge of their staircase, and others prefer to stack them in crates and storage boxes in the bathroom or on the mantelpiece.
Don’t be afraid to push the boundaries of what a shelf should be!
Keep your books away from external walls. If your books are stacked against exterior walls, they’re more likely to become damp or experience temperature fluctuations that may warp pages and covers. In hot conditions, paper and leather will become dry and brittle, and damp areas can encourage mould and mildew growth, foxing, and crumpling. Try and keep your books in a comfortable, consistent environment between the two conditions.
Although getting the most of your shelf space might be tempting, don’t crowd your books too tightly. Packing books tightly together can cause damage to the covers as you try to remove them. Having comfortable gaps between your books also helps air to circulate, stopping them from becoming musty and preventing too much pressure on the covers and spines, which may break them over time.
Keep books away from direct sunlight to avoid bleaching/fading of the covers.
Dust your books regularly to prevent and reduce the likelihood of bugs and insects finding a home in your collection. Booklice, for example, are common, harmless household pests and often like to live in damp spaces. Keeping books away from external walls will help here, but if you can’t avoid this, keep your space ventilated, clean and remove mould, use a dehumidifier, and dust your books and the pages to remove any insect eggs.
For more storage ideas for your home, you can browse our full Storage department or read any of the articles below.
