Bookshelf Tour!

Last year I bought a new Ikea Billy bookshelf, but it only recently came to my attention that I never shared any photos since I built it. So I decided that now was the perfect time to do a bookshelf tour and reveal all of my shelf organisation secrets.

The image above it Billy, in all her glory. I previously stored all my books on a Billy bookshelf half the width of this new one, and I question how I ever managed to fit all of my books on it! (The answer: putting books in front of each other, like an animal.) I'm a tiny bit obsessed with Ikea storage units but as a book nerd, Billy will always take the cake.

Next to my shelf is my guitar and ukulele in their cases, and then my desk just under the window. Quick tangent, but I actually haven't touched either instrument for about three years, which... isn't great. I really want to make time for them again, or at least time for the ukulele because it's such a cheerful instrument. When I was in high school I was very scared of not being good at things, so I drifted away from the guitar and ukulele, as well as piano and singing, and focused on what I knew I excelled at like writing. But now I'm older I've started to see the joy in doing things just because they make me happy, and not necessarily being brilliant at them from the start, or ever. Heck - I took up ice skating lessons last year and I'M STILL REALLY BAD AT IT. But it makes me super happy to skate. So tiny life lesson: ignore the idea that you have to be 'good' at something to continue pursuing it. If you can find the time and it makes you happy? Go for it.

BACK TO BOOKS. It's time to take you through Billy shelf by shelf ✨

Starting from the top! Shelves 1 and 2 are my Sci-Fi/Fantasy shelves. They are mostly YA, but as you can see, a few outsiders sneaked in (thank you, V.E. Schwab, for showing authors don't have to stick to one audience). You'll also spot my Henrik Ibsen plays book and Lord of the Flies because I really liked studying them at school and didn't know where else to put them.

There isn't much differentiation between these two shelves, but Shelf 1 has more unread books and Shelf 2 is more reserved for my favourites. I have some favourites on Shelf 1 too (Ink and Boneeeee) but 2 is where my darling Schwab, Stiefvater, Bardugo, and Ness books are at.

A note about the decor on these two shelves. They feature the iconic bouquet of fake flowers that feature in the majority of my bookstagram posts, as well as a temperature-measuring bubble thing I was gifted which is super cute, and my Raven Cycle themed candles which my friend got me 2 years ago and I like too much to burn. Oh, and if you were wondering, the gaps are for books I'm currently lending to a friend! You'll see a few more on the further down shelves.

Shelf 3 continues with the Sci-Fi/Fantasy theme but is more dedicated to my early teens. These are the books I used to automatically go to when my siblings wanted recommendations. They have both read some of Artemis Fowl and Harry Potter but gave up after a few books because of how long those series' were, but I believe they both read and loved The Shapeshifter series which is a SUPER underrated X-men-style story. Plus they both adored The Hunger Games, which honestly doesn't come as a surprise. An added bonus for this shelf: it has a gold crown that my friends always like to wear whenever they visit (and that I like to wear when no one is watching).

Shelf 4 is where we finally break the trend. This is my YA Contemporary shelf. The number of Contemporary books I owned used to be a third of the size of this shelf, but that was when I all I ever saw from YA contemporary was stories about two straight white people falling in love. YA contemporary these days now has such a wealth of experiences, including voices that reflect my own, and my love for this genre is rapidly growing. Plus looking at the vibrant colours on this shelf never fails to make me happy.

Shelves 5 and 6: the hardcovers - but also paperbacks of unusual sizes. You may have noticed from the first four shelves that I like to keep my books very uniform in height because it's more visibly pleasing to me. So the bottom shelves are for the outsiders - but don't worry, they're just as loved.

You can't see it perfectly here, but sitting on the bottom shelf is a 3D printed model of the moon that is also a lamp that I was gifted last year. If it's not obvious, I love it! Also, I have a book holding box that was drawn and designed by Maggie Stiefvater. I saw when she was selling these for a limited time, but I never expected my friend to grab me one of the few that were made! I currently use it to hold book samplers I've received at cons and keep is sideways so I can admire all of its beauty.

This shelf is the first thing I see every time I enter my room, and I love just staring at it sometimes (nerdy, I know)! In part, because nobody really expected I was capable of building it myself and I did it anyway (It's Ikea furniture - I know I'm not very strong but have a little faith in me, people), but also because, in my mind, as long as my bookshelf is tidy I am capable of organising the rest of my life as well.

What about you? How do you arrange your bookshelves? Do you do it alphabetically or by colour or size or is it whatever-fits-where? Do you have any funky trinkets in and among your books? I know this is a little different and more casual compared my usual posts but I hope you enjoyed it 💖