What Is on YOUR Bookshelf?

My bookshelfs are full of books and so are the ones in my kid's rooms, nothing but books. Sorry no help here.

Our bookshelves hold books. A couple of knicknacks on the top. Knicknacks on the fireplace mantles. The kids have bookcases in their own rooms and one in the family room, they are free to put their knicknacks up on that mantle, the living room is for Dh and me. My kids are not little kids, they are 12 and 16.
I don't really understand the question of which items to display on a bookcase vs somewhere else. It doesn't matter which lives on the bookcase vs mantle vs coffee table, they just end up where they do without much time thinking about it.

I have a love/hate relationship with bookshelves. We have tons of books in our house b/c hubby and I love reading. So does our youngest child. And when our kids were little (babies/toddlers) we bought nice hardback new books constantly to populate a "kids" bookshelf for them to enjoy (we'd read several at bedtime every night, and often throughout the day as well)...

So, now that they have "outgrown" those more toddler aged books, I don't know what to do with them. They will still pull out Dr. Suess every now and then for laughs (they are 10 & 13) or one that they always had their Papa read during visits... but it has 200 books and is full and I could use the space for other things. I don't really want to put them in the attic, but I def do not want to get rid of them. So there they sit. The kids also have their own bookshelves in their bedrooms. Daughter has a white one from target that she has 2 shelves stuffed as full as she can get it, and the bottom shelf has baskets with art/crafty stuff filling it. Son's is smaller and on his wall, and has most of "his" books (stuff bought from book fairs and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, etc). We have built in book shelves in our family room that have a row of theological stuff (from The Book of Concord, several different translations of the Bible, a few different hymnals, books on prayer, The Small Catechism, etc), a row of all of William F. Buckly, Jr.'s novels, some historical fiction (Jeff Shaara and others), Bill Bennett's children's Treasury, but also some framed pictures.
Then there is the bookshelf in out bedroom that has tons of hard and paperback novels (Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil, everything by Michael Connelly, some John Grisham, some theological stuff, some Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, and Judge Napolitano type stuff, financial planning books, but also my cardboard hanging file folder boxes with our financial papers (saved bills, etc), a couple of photos, topped with some photos, the DVD player and some pottery. Then there is a brown paper sack of junk books I have been meaning to take somewhere (anywhere, lol). Then there is another shelf just moved from the living room in the spare room that has all our old National Review magazines stacked on it, and some various books that are fictional but theological (The Lord of the Rings series, The Screwtape Letters, lots of C.S. Lewis, etc).
It has a lamp on top, and the bottom cabinet (closed door) of that bookcase has a box with all the extra wiring/cables/cords for various electronic equipment.
There is another book shelf in the living room, that has more kids books on it, the old VCR tapes (all the Disney) from when the kids were little and VCRs were still the norm, and the power strip for the WiFi.

In our house the shelves are functional, not pretty. And they are all full/stuffed to the gills waiting to throw up a mess somewhere in my house...

I'm an English teacher, and my husband and boys are readers, too; we live in a house filled with books. :)

We do have two Kindles now, and that is helping some.

Both of our boys have floor to ceiling bookcases in their rooms. The bottom 3 shelves are filled with books, the top couple have framed photos or in my youngest's case a special toy from the past that he couldn't part with, and the middle shelf has stacked games/toys.

We have another large bookcase in our room filled mostly with books and a few photos. There are two bookcases in the office filled entirely with books, mostly the classics.

In the living room there is one bookcase. The bottom two shelves are reserved for my youngest son. There are some books, and a ton of Legos. He is not allowed to put anything above those shelves, or he would take over everything he could reach. :) The next two shelves have books. The top two shelves have photos, and the very top shelf also has a beautiful crystal bowl with white Christmas lights in it. I keep it plugged in most of the time and it looks great!

I don't like clutter, so the shelves are kept neat, and there aren't very many photos on each shelf. The kids are good about keeping their bookcases in order as well. Whenever we end up with too many books, we go through and take a bunch to Half Priced Books. Hopefully with the Kindles we won't have to do that as often. :)

*My boys are 7 and 13.

My book shelf has tons of DIY books that belong to hubby, and magazines that belong to me. I have a Kindle so I don't own any normal reading books at this junture. I have antique oil cans, and western style bookends holding up most of the books. It's more masculine looking, not feminine.

I disagree with Mindy and totally get your question, lol. I put a lot of thought into it, ESPECIALLY what in the world to do with the kids books, so I feel ya. I did have a little bit of a hard time figuring out what "classics" would go on the adult shelves vs the kid shelves. Maybe I'm just even more anal than I originally thought, who knows? We bought our entertainment system specifically for the very pretty shelving space (still made to be able to hang a 5' plasma, but nice framed by shelves). The left side of the entertainment center (3 3ft long shelves)is fiction. I toyed with the idea of arranging them alphabetically but couldn't figure out if I wanted to do that by title or author (but I don't necessarily know authors when looking for a book), so I just didn't do that. I made it where my beautiful books, collectable books, the ones that are special to me are at eye level and the rest just fill the shelves. The right side (also 3 3ft long shelves) is my nonfiction books (top shelf are how to, diy, and cookbooks, 2nd shelf is religious and reference books, the 3rd shelf is parenting, educating your child, and biography/autobiographies. the shelf going over the top (5 1/2 ft long, divided into 3 rectangles) has 3 Bibles and a Precious Moments figurine of a girl studying a globe; a 2-picture frame of my husband with his mom by a lake when he was 4 and by a pool at 40, an agate candle holder (first thing I ever bought for him when we were dating), a figurine of a mom and dad holding an infant, and a christening cup from 1849 with our son's name; and the 3rd is a horse hair vase from our first road trip (to the Grand Canyon, where we got married 4 years later), and a framed picture of us at the Canyon at sunrise). Not just regular bits and pieces, but "treasures".
In the foyer, I have a smaller 4 shelf bookshelf (about 6x4) with some treasures that all have a story and theme (the top of the bookshelf is 5 things from Africa, the top shelf is 4 "romantic" things re: my husband and I, the next shelf is 3 "romantic" things re: my mil and fil, from Scotland and England, and the next shelf is 3 very old photos of my husband and my boys' namesakes. The bottom shelf is big heavy photo books, coffee table books, some big research books with beautiful photography, travel books, and souvenier books to some special places we've been (Woodstock 2, our favorite theatrical shows, etc).
The boys: I put a regular 5 shelf bookcase in the playroom for their books. We had to anchor it to the wall "just in case" and placed tool box type things of collectable rocks/minerals that I collected as a child on the bottom shelf to keep it "safe" because the next 2 shelves from the bottom are lighter instead of heavier. (I did the rocks on bottom and anchored it to keep it weighted, because putting lighter "little kid books" below normal books is not "right"....but this is just their size right now and those little baby books will be replaced as they grow).They're both young so these are the books they can reach: board books, sturdier books that are age appropriate. The top 2 shelves are books that they can't read just yet, but books I read to them or that we're saving for when they're older (the old illustrated classics that I bought off ebay or in used bookstores, for back when they had pretty covers and good feel to the paper, with interesting illustrations (not the pretty cover but weighs 2oz even though it's 2" thick stuff you buy now). I'm a bit of a book snob, I have to admit. I did end up keeping some "kid books" that were special and older than me and the kids combined (ha) in MY book shelf (Swiss Family Robinson from the 50s, a couple books my grandma read to me) but the rest of the kids books, classics included, go in the kids' bookshelf.
My 4 year old's bunk bed has bookshelves, but it's where he puts his 2 prized toys that he ends up sleeping with at some point in the night, a flashlight, trophies, and the book we're reading at night right now. The guest room has a couple minibooks on the nightstand, and a dresser where I have some elephant bookends with cowhorn tusks that I bought in Kenya, holding a handful of books someone might want to look at if they read in bed. In our bedroom, we each have a couple books in our night stands that we are working on, and a little 2 shelf unit that holds my purses on top and old National Geographic magazines on the shelves. My 1 year old has a couple of petting books (where you feel the different textures and stuff) in a toy crate stored on the bottom of his change table, so that if he wakes earlier than we do, he can play or "read" quietly for a little bit. That's it! Happy decorating!

The top two shelves have pictures, a lamp ,a plaque and a vase. The rest of it has baskets with toys for my 16 month old. My older boys have a game shellf and there are books on that. The baby has a basket on the bookshelf with some books in it and the others are on his toybox shelf in his room. I don't really have time to read anything but my Bible and the occasional borrowed book so tthey sit ontop of a cabinet in my dinning room or next to my bed,where ever I am reading them.

Each of my children have a bookcase in their room (5 shelves on them) for their own books. The family bookcase in the music room.....contains their overflow! (sigh)

It is SUCH a flippin' mess. Books piled every which way, and board games on top of the books! We have games stacked so high on the top of the bookcase, I am sure they will come tumbling down one of these days! I really need to get it organized. What I really need is to get more bookshelves!!

Krista P. - thanks for your post! I'm going to try that. As soon as I get more shelves!

Books! We have a magazine rack that I keep in the den for magazines. I don't like them "flopping over" on my books- you find really pretty magazine holders though at Target and other office supplie stores to reduce that clutter.

I took this from an HGTV show and it really works....
- On each shelf, have a space that looks "open". You do this by putting something decorative, but not "cluttery" on each shelf, staggered. It would look like this (this may get distorted)

booksbooksbook vase
booksbooks picture books
sculpture booksbooksbooks

Leaving open spaces on the shelves really does make them look more "intentional" and less "crammed in".

Hope this helps!

Oh- I put things on the books shelves that don't need much "maintenance", but that would be interesting to someone coming into the den or the playroom.

my kids each have a bookshelf in their rooms. And there is one in the play room. we have A LOT of books in our house so we have a lot of bookshelves.
the ones in the living room a built ins so they have some knick knacks on them , military stuff, um a clock, etc. but the rest of the bookshelves only have books.

My book shelf was for the main purpose to display my photos,& other items but after having a child came a ton of books that seem to drop from the sky so I needed some where to put them instead of all over the house the book shelf is no longer mine it is theirs but I have other cabinents to display what I want to that is off limits to their books toys & collections.

My kids each have their own rooms with a bathroom in between. On the wall between their rooms I have a 4 shelf bookcase that literally has probaby 300-400 books on it just for my kids. Generally my daughter (11) has the top 2 shelves and my son (8) has the bottom 2. We call it their "library". We've had it there for about a month and I love it. It has freed up some room in thier rooms and its easy for them to find books and to put them away. My own bookcases are overflowing with my own books with a few family pics, candles and knick knacks in front of them.

We have 16 7x4 feet bookshelves. 5 are in the basement completely filled with books. Each child has one in their rooms. We have one in the master bedroom and two in the living room. They have books, in fact my daughter's has a double row on the bottom shelf with all her books. And I have two or three Sterilites in the basement with more books and no place to put them.
My husband seriously wants to add on and have a library. He has three in his office that are filled with computer, IT, Military books.

My bookshelves have mostly books. My daughter and I both have our own in our rooms, so her books go in her room on hers. I do have some knick knacks and stuff, on the rest of them, and I one with no books at all, it has only a collection of different collectible rocks and stones, a couple of fossils, etc... Stuff that my dad gave my daughter when she wanted to be a paleontologist.