Organizing Bookcases

Have you ever noticed how useful bookcases are? They can be used as storage bins, accent pieces, and even as a showcase for your favorite items. Whatever you plan on using the bookcases for, you will need to organize them just a little bit if you want to avoid having your home or office looking like a claustrophobics worst nightmare. Here are a few simple guidelines that you can use to help you organize your bookcases exactly the way that you want them.

• How many books? Considering that the primary purpose of a bookcase is to store books, it only makes sense to figure out how many books you have in your home. Each book will take up space in these shelves, so you should plan accordingly. Having a rough idea of how many books you have in your home, can help you determine how many bookcases you will need. A great way to figure this out is to actually count all the books, and write that number down. After you know how many books you have, go and visit a local bookstore and compare the number of books you have to how many they can fit on one of their cases. This will give you a rough estimate of how many shelves you might need.
• Organization method. Decide on an organizational method for your bookcases. You could separate your books according to author, subject, title, year of publication, or whatever method works best for you. Also keep in mind that you will be using your bookcases for other items as well, such as knickknacks, mementos, and games. Do you want to have your shelves only used to store books, or will you be mixing everything up? Be sure that you now what you will be dong before you begin filling up the bookcases.
• Randomize. If you will be using your bookcases to help decorate your home, then it would be a good idea to randomize the arrangement a little. This means that you should break up the monotony of having books crammed in to the cases by periodically leaving some empty space, or even placing a knick-knack here and there.
• Maintain. Once you have your bookcases exactly the way that you want them, be sure that you maintain the system you have developed. It is way too easy to place things haphazardly on the shelves. If you do this, then don't be surprised to find yourself with a disorganized and cluttered mess once again in a few months.