As temperatures in Milwaukee compete with those of Antarctica, Lily decided to start crawling, our kitchen pipes froze, and I decided our bookshelves needed an overhaul. Fortunately, Evan got a few days off of school for snow and cold weather. We have a small house and most of our book collection is downstairs on our organized by color bookshelves. But we have one main 25-square cube Ikea Kallax bookcase in our living room (with our white Ektorp 4-seat corner sectional, arm chair & ottoman and white Hemnes 8-Drawer Dresser for my standing desk, and our white Årstid lamps we’re basically an Ikea catalog.) Up here we have about 200 of our favorite books.
The 25-square bookcase takes up the main wall of the living room, so it needs to be both functional and pretty. It’s a place where we have our very favorite books, our current to-read books, a couple beloved icons and pictures, toy storage as well as cleared surfaces for playing, charging station for our phones, and storage for essentials like wallets, work fob and keys. Our living room really is where we live, and where the kids play most of the time, so the bookcase plays a pretty big role in our day to day lives.
I’m a big believer that when it comes to house stuff organization, if it’s getting messy on a regular basis then the system is failing you (rather than you are failing it). And our previous system didn’t make much room for library books or a separate space for Jackson books and toys to be safe from Lily’s little hands and mouth. So we re-arranged things so that each family member has a shelf. Daddy’s on top, since he’s 6’4, and Lily’s on the bottom since she’s not pulling up to standing (yet…but I know it’s coming soon.) Also we used to host a small group once a week for evening prayer so we had a shelf for 6 books of common prayer and as many Bibles, but since we’re not doing that right now with two little ones we loaned some out to our small group and moved the rest downstairs.
Honestly, the bookcase never looks quite as good as it does in the pictures because the kids are constantly taking books and toys out. But that’s a sign that it’s well used and loved, so as long as it can be put back to looking decent in a couple of minutes, that’s good enough for me.
A Tour of our Bookcase:
(For links to individual books go to the bottom of the post).
Bottom:
We kept the very bottom pretty much as it was with bins (the grey ones are actually from target). One bin is for (duplo) legos. One is for blocks. One is for everyday winter gear (mittens, wool socks, hats so Jackson can independently get them out and put them away). One is for baby carriers. And One is for magformers, cars, and tools. (This one we sometimes call “The Bin of Requirement” after the Room of Requirement from Harry Potter…and it’s the one that gets messy and needs to be cleaned out on a regular basis.)
I like that the bins keep visual clutter down, are easy for the kids to get out (and not pinch fingers), and we have these bins throughout the house so they’re pretty interchangeable. We have the best open ended toys that the kids should be playing with for years here. (And everything we have in the bins is pretty Lily-safe in terms of no small choking hazards.)
2nd Level Shelves:
Next up are 8-month-old Lily’s shelves: 4 shelves of board books and an open shelf with a basket of her toys. We get the basket down at least 6 times a day for her to play with. My dear friend Heidi brought us that basket from Rwanda. These are our pretty wooden and silicone baby toys: Skwish, Sophie La Girafe Teether, montessori baby toys, silicone coasters, ice-cream cone, & moonjax.
Some of the board books are not literary masterpieces (like the Lightning McQueen books from local little libraries or garish touch and feel books) but these are all books the kids love.
3rd Level Shelves:
The middle shelves are 3-year-old Jackson shelves: one shelf for his library books (currently we have a lot of Shirley Hughes books checked out–they’re amazing!),
one shelf for kid Bibles, one shelf mainly for Dr. Seuss & Richard Scarry, one shelf for other beloved books, and one shelf for his Little People Mini Barn (minus the pig, who has been missing essentially since we got it from Evan’s sweet co-worker).
Jackson can easily reach this shelf, and Lily shouldn’t be able to for at least 9 months, and longer, if the books are pushed back. This is also where his stainless steel & silicone pura travel water bottle lives when it’s not out and about with us (he also has one for beside his bed that’s easier to use in the middle of the night).
4th Level Shelves:
The next shelves are mine:
one for library books,
one for devotional books,
one for the icon of the Trinity,
one for Madeline L’Engle, Jeanne Birdsall, & Caroline Starr Rose,
and one for my current reads–mostly writing books.
5th Level Shelves:
The top shelves are Evan’s: one for tree books,
and his to-read shelf, a wooden treasure chest (a wedding present from Target) for keys and charging phones,
a shelf for a few favorites from Tolkien, Herriot, and Chesterton,
a shelf for an icon of Christ the Pantocrator and Narnia books,
and then a shelf for some of our favorite liturgies and liturgical resources.
6th Level Shelves:
Then on top of the bookcase are our over-sized beautiful coffee table books (Maps & Lost Words), a cool decorative globe from Target, an essential oil diffuser, a set of Puffin in Bloom books, a beautiful big Bible,
gorgeous Jim Kay illustrated Harry Potters, a goodbye present from our DC church with the African benediction we said at the end of the service, a Holy Land olive wood cross, some dried roses, a copper fox postcard from my mother, and our Easter bells.
When I take the book shelf all together, it makes me so happy to see so many parts of our life come together. There are beloved books from our own childhood (and a couple from our parents’ own childhoods), presents from dear friends, Christmas presents to each other, books found on lazy Saturdays at a thrift shop, or on long-term loan from a little library. There are gifts from godparents, books we got for trips, books that have shaped our souls, our imaginations, and our ideas of the world. There are books we’d read and re-read and read again, books we can’t wait to read for the first time, and books we are itching to read with our kids when they are old enough. It truly is a bookshelf for our whole family, and one that is a little window into what our family loves and what makes us us.
Individual Books on our Family Bookcase
Tree & Nature Books
Sibley Guide to Trees // The Forest // Wildwood// 50 Wisconsin Hikes // Lives of the Trees // The Land Remembers // Walking Home // Changes in the Lands // The Peregrine // Pilgrim at Tinker Creek // Wild Places // Birds of Wisconsin // Trees of Wisconsin // Wildflowers of Wisconsin
Evan’s Favorite Book Shelf
Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit // Beren and Luthien // All Creatures Great and Small // GK Chesterton Autobiography // Complete Father Brown // Narnia // Till We Have Faces
Liturgies (& Guides)
Oxford Guide to BCP // Common Prayer // Hymnbook 1982 // BCP // Living the Christian Year // Divine Hours // Celtic Daily Prayer // Celebrating Common Prayer // Ancient Faith Prayer Book
Library Books
Upside of Stress // Preschool Math at Home // Montessori 3-7 Year Old Math // Read Aloud Handbook // Wind in the Willows // Enchanted Castle // House of Arden // Treasure Seekers
Devotional
Book of God // Devotional Classics // CS Lewis Collection // Prayer // Amazing Grace // Screwtape Letters // Reaching Out // Seeking God // Freedom of Simplicity // Miracles // Quotidian Mysteries
Amy’s Favorites
Wrinkle in Time Series // Austin Family Chronicles // The Penderwicks Series // May B
Amy’s Current Reads
Writer’s Map // Urban Jungle //Story Grid // Wonderbook // History of Magic // Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery // Planet Narnia // Healing Stories for Challenging Behavior //Super Nutrition for Babies // Artist’s Way // Writing Down the Bones // Million Little Ways // Second Sight // Writing Irresistible Kidlit // Bird by Bird // Circle of Quiet
Kid Library Books
Don’t Want to Go // Alfie and Annie Rose Storybook // Abel’s Moon // Olly and Me // All About Alfie // Alfie and the Big Boys // Alfie’s ABC
Jackson’s Favorite Kid Books
Animalia // Best Word Book Ever // Cars and Trucks and Things that Go // Make Way for Ducklings // Giraffe and a Half // Alfie Outdoors Storybook // Big Green Book of Beginning Stories // Big Blue Book // Big Purple Book // Big Red Book // Go Dog Go // Dr. Seuss’s ABC // Old Hat New Hat // One Fish Two Fish // The Cat in the Hat // Green Eggs and Ham // Bears on Wheels // Foot Book // Glasses for DW // Tell Me the Secrets // Tell Me the Stories // James Herriot Treasury for Children // Good Night Good Night Construction Site// Mighty Mighty Construction Site// Complete Brambley Hedge // Journey // Thomas The Tank Engine Collection // Real Cowboys // A Treasury of Curious George // New Adventures of Curious George // The World of Pooh // Marilyn’s Monster // Little Bear // My Father’s Dragon // The Jolly Postman
Lily’s Board Books
Alison Jay’s ABC & 123 // Ten Tiny Toes // Hide-and-Seek Duck // Me and My Dad // Winnie the Pooh Board Books // Little Blue Truck // Pete the Cat // Goodnight Maryland // The Going to Bed Book // The Classic Baby Lit Collection // Goodnight Moon // Scarry’s My First Word Book // Montessori Number Work // Cars: Tales from the Tracks // The Snowman // Madeline // Curious George and the Bunny // Sally’s First Day of School // Eric Carle’s ABC // All Aboard! Washington DC // Anne of Green Gables // The Little Engine that Could // Brown Bear, Brown Bear // More More More Said the Baby // Baby Animals Black and White // Kitten // Desert Babies // The Mitten // Pat the Bunny // Machines at Work // That’s Not My Dragon // Tale of Three Trees // All the World // Numbers, Colors, Shapes // Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb // Jamberry // Harold and the Purple Crayon // Moo, Baa, La La La // Boats // Each Peach Pear Plum // Doggies // Go Dog Go // Blue Hat, Green Hat // But Not the Hippopotamus // Bright Baby Farm //Hippos Go Berserk // Barnyard Dance // The Very Hungry Caterpillar // You’re a Blessing to Me
Children’s Bibles & Devotionals
Baby’s Hug-A-Bible // Baby’s First Bible: A CarryAlong Treasure //Tomie dePaola’s Book of Bible Stories// Jesus Storybook Bible // Goodnight Jesus // Psalm 23 // Prayers for Little Hands // At Your Baptism // Jesus Calling Little Book of Prayers // Lord’s Prayer // Action Bible // The Story for Children // The Children’s Illustrated Bible // A Parable About the King // Every Day With God // My Bible Story Book// Thoughts that Make your Heart Sing// The Beginner’s Bible // Who’s the Friend of the Water-Spurting Whale? // Favorite Parables from the Bible // The Loyola Treasury of Saints // Read Aloud Bible Stories
How do you organize your bookcases? Do you have bookcases that serve more than one person and more than one function?
*Note* This post contains Amazon affiliate links, which means if you were to buy a book, I’d get a tiny commission at no cost to you. Thanks for supporting Stories & Thyme!*
Wonderful post. Hope you show pictures of the rest of your living room. Beautiful organization. Inspiring! You might want to check out The Hidden Life of Trees since you love books so much.