Reminder: There's still time to enter the BOUND In The Wild Contest and win a custom cuff bracelet!
i've talked before about the fact that my office is located in our laundry room. This has many benefits: there are some unusually large windows, lots of space, and a long counter. And I like the smell of laundry soap. Also, people tend not to come in that often, as I am likely to make them fold laundry or scoop the cat litter if they interrupt my work.
On the downside, this place has more spiders than Harry Potter's cupboard. Also, while I had a fair amount of drawer and cabinet space, I had no shelves, which meant my books were overtaking every other room in my house, and my kids are in that stage of old-enough-to-read-but-not-old-enough-to-understand. The answer, of course, was to install shelves. Lots of shelves.
By far the best shelves I've found are the Elfa system from The Container Store -- they're flexible, clean-lined, strong, and insanely easy to install. (True story: When I was eight months pregnant, I installed an entire closet, shelves, and drawer unit all by my princess self, despite the fact I couldn't see my feet. It is THAT EASY.)
So, after Boyo installed the top track (I am not allowed to hang things on the walls, because SOMEONE is very picky about what anchors we use) I got to work. And behold:
Time assembling shelves: One hour
Time arranging books JUST SO: One week.
It's not done, of course -- these are only the books from my room, so I still have to go through the rest of the house. But the sight of all those beautiful books, some of them unread, some of them old friends, makes me both happy and inspired.
Some closeups:
My UK editions of Harry Potter, which my children kept stealing. MITTS OFF, CHILDREN. There's also some of my favorites YA books: A Wrinkle In Time, The Changeover, and The Only Alien On The Planets, and my first Marauder's Map mug, which...my kids chipped. This is why we can't have anything nice, internet.
And here's MY books! Including the lovely, lovely German edition of TORN, which gets to face out so I can stare at the prettiness while I work. (Also, my beloved copy of Garner's, which is a lifesaver during line-edits. If you don't have a copy, you should.)
Like everything else in our house, the office is a work in progress, even two years after we've moved. Finishing a project like this, though, really makes the space feel like it's mine. I can't imagine why I waited so long.
So...what's on your shelves?
