It seems we are quintessential wandering Jews! We moved again on the weekend... Seventeen had the final exam of his school career, so we didn't need to live so close to his school any more, and we were craving the space of a house after years of apartments. So, we have left the Eastern Suburbs for a location a little further afield, although, we still - in terms relative to Sydney's great sprawl - live pretty close in.
And so, as all book junkies know, there was the Moving of the Books to deal with (thank you Seventeen and DB), and the great Bookcase Re-arrange... The living room in the new place has two parts, so the inner section is going to be a combination of library and creative space. On Saturday morning, it looked like this:
Then The Valkyrie arrived to help me get sorted. You'd think, given I can, once the books are in place, go to the shelves with my eyes closed and put my hand on the book I want, that I'd remember where they sat and the re-stacking would be a very simple operation. But no...it's amazing how quickly the order of the alphabet can escape the brain when one is tired and over the confusion of moving! However, by the end of the day it looked like this:
In the corner behind where I stood to take this pic, there are several large stacks of books - in the eighteen months in our previous place, the collection grew... Also, the rest of my books have been in storage for about three years now, and it's time to pull them out now that there's enough space for bookshelves to accommodate them. The few things that have already been brought out of the storage unit have shown some evidence of damp, so I'm not happy to leave the books there any longer. DB made a few less than happy noises when I mentioned the need to buy more bookcases - I plan on running them around the corner so they meet at the left hand end where the paintings are currently stacked - but I don't think he was being too serious.
It WILL be nice to be able to spread out, and if things go according to plan this will, hopefully, be our last rented place. The next move will be to something we buy, which will be chosen with library space on the priority list - and new, SOLID TIMBER bookcases to be built in....oooh, the luxury!!
A girl's gotta dream...
Your bookshelves are lovely, Kaz! And I'm sure it'll be a matter of time (soon, I hope!) before you'll have that lovely library space. Quintessential wandering Jews indeed!
ReplyDeleteThanks Peter - there's something very impressive about them all lined up on a single wall like this. I like it much better than having them split up all over the place. DB wants to go hunt out some old squashy leather armchairs to put in there...I'm not going to fight him on that one!
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ReplyDeleteHey! I have been following you for a while but this is the first post i have read by you! Love your bookshelves!! Very impressive!! I, myself, am a bibliophile!! Do post a picture when this room is completed!! :)
ReplyDeleteWelcome! Today the other books come out of storage, and hopefully this weekend, we go buy more bookcases to house them - which will mean another re-stack, of course...as Peter from Kyusireader would say, "Such a happy problem!"
DeleteI will post pics of the room when it's finished - DB was saying last night it would be good to have a big table in there for doing stuff - painting, making models, doing jigsaws, etc... I reckon it's a great idea.
Its a lovely idea!! I wish i had that much space in my house, i would have definitely gone for a complete library/study room!! Will be waiting for the new pictures! :)
DeleteThat's a lot of books. Speaking from personal experience, among the most problematic things for packing and shipping are books. I mean, there's an entire world of merit and value that could just slip away because it's all just in a single paperback ! Hope you really account for each and every single one of these, which could simply be achieved by strict and meticulous inventoring.
ReplyDeleteClay @ World Packaging Co.
And that's not all of them, Clay! Three more crates are parked in the room awaiting new bookshelves, along with the ones that wouldn't fit when we did this stack, and there's another crate still in storage that has to be retrieved... I had a catalogue of them all at one point, but that was prior to a major cull and an interstate move, so the collection has changed considerably. However, my memory for what's there is amazingly accurate, given how fluffy my memory can be about other things, so I can pretty much see at a glance when something's missing.
DeleteMy partner - DB in the blog - has packed up and moved them each time we've moved, which is a first for me... Prior to meeting him, the books were always my job, and yes, it's a nightmare!
Great Post!!
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