I think a new bookcase is in order so that you can keep the books upstairs.

Absolutely new bookcases. Bookcases aren't furniture; bookcases are wall coverings. Pull something out a little and put them behind it.

Well, the fact that you're moving the books to the basement doesn't mean that they should stay in the basement!

After the furniture gets settled in, the books will somehow filter back upstairs. I moved my book room from the second floor to the basement a few years ago. This meant moving all my books to the basement. Now half of my books are, again, at the second floor.

Was it just moving the books that was making you feel out of sorts? I get what I call "displacement blues" when I go away on holiday. Like you, I look forward to something, new furniture in your case, but I get a hollow feeling when I arrive. This wears off quite quickly. I also got the same feeling when I bought a new house. The agent noticed that I wasn't looking well and said it often happens when clients have taken the plunge!
I expect those books you want will creep back upstairs. I don't have a basement but books move from the main bookcase in the sitting room and relocate themselves in the bedroom!

It may not be just the books, the the general disruption you feel when a room is pulled apart. I know I feel very off-kilter when work is being done at the house and things are not where they are supposed to be, even when I know the end result will be wonderful.

Definitely get another bookcase - you know those books will drift back upstairs, just as Dynomutt says :)

The new furnishings from your description sound lovely. I agree with the folks above--it's odd to tear apart a space. Will the books reside in boxes in the basement or on shelves?

Sheriz6, I can certainly identify with mess when work is being done in the house. We are having hardwood flooring put down in the halls, bedrooms, and closets; and my house has been a disaster area for three weeks now. I'm about ready to tear my hair out. The finished rooms are looking great, though, and there is only one room and four closets to go--and putting down the quarter round everywhere, and putting the furniture back where it belongs, as well as all the decorative stuff that sits on it. We've been sleeping wherever there is a bed with an open path leading to it.

Annpan - "I get what I call "displacement blues" when I go away on holiday."

I can honestly state without fear of contradiction that I have NEVER NEVER NEVER felt down or out of sorts when I go away on holiday.

On my return from holiday, well, that's different...

As for the books - well, I concur with the bookcase idea.

Martin, we really are opposites about the holiday return. I am always glad to be back even though I have enjoyed myself. By the time I have unpacked and started a washload, sorted out the house and opened the post, I am ready to sink into my own comfy bed!

Carolyn, we had our hardwood floors sanded and resealed three years ago (kitchen, dining room, hallway, entry) and that required all sorts of furniture being moved around and sleeping at my mother's house due to the dust and fumes. It was lovely when it was done, but the mess and disruption were awful. The end result was worth it, though!

You are all so wonderful. Perhaps part of the problem is seeing the bedroom torn asunder. It has always been my "safe haven", a place of peace and tranquility and now it is ripped apart. The books are in boxes for now. But shelving is going to be ordered next so the basement (very dry and livable) will someday, hopefully, be a kind of library. But for now, the boxes. And like several of you mentioned, change is not always a comfort. Comfort, for me, is routine. And I certainly messed with my routine!

The vacation/holiday analogy is interesting... I never considered how people view vacations differently. Happy to arrive and happy to depart usually describes my vacation attitude.

Carolyn, hardwood floors! How exciting for you! I read your post twice because my hardwoods need to be sanded and refinished and I suppose your chaos is what that endeavor shall resemble.

I have already been in the basement twice looking for books. So yes... dyno mutt, the books are already finding their way back upstairs!

PAM

I think any and all disruption of routine can be depressing, as when I relocated here 2 years ago. I had to part with boxes of my books, but kept many. The books were the first thing I arranged in my new apartment here. I get very emotionally attached to certain of my older, favorite books, and distressed when I cannot locate them, for any reason.

The wall spanning bookcase in my study begin listing badly. I took it down and moved all the books to the steps leading up to the attic and took my time about trying to find the perfect replacement bookcase. Oddly enough I began buying books like crazy. The study was where I spent most of my time and I realized I had a compulsive need to refill the now empty space behind me. I already had full bookcases in the upstairs hall, in the bedrooms upstairs, in the living room, in the kitchen, in the basement. Didn't matter. I needed more books in that study. Did I forget to say I still had 2 other bookcases in the study? Because I was squeezing the new books into existing bookcases, I never could fill the need of that book void.

My advice, bring in a new bookcase ASAP.

when I moved 8 yrs. ago I had to part in various ways with many, many, many books. I relegated 6-7 bins to the basement where they still reside. I also have books upstairs in several bookshelfs/locations throughout the house. I will state that at least 1x a year I go thru all those shelves for the library sale (which I do Not attend). I also buy way fewer books and am one of the library's most well-known patrons-people even ask me for book reviews. I still find it very hard-no depressing is the word to part with books. I even have trouble with magazines, which I keep until I have "time" to cut out things I want to save and then put the saved items in notebooks(well that is really another issue). I really do need to downsize my book collection and keep it that way due to space considerations but how to do either I have no clue- a true conundrum (hope I used the word correctly)

Because I need to have the interior of my house painted, my latest goal is that every book needs to have a space on a shelf. In the last month I have donated 207 non-fiction books, mostly nice garden books but also quite a few biography and history books. It almost physically hurts to remove all of those books permanently from my house, and I'm not talking about the weight of them. The bad news is that I still am not close to reaching my goal. Getting more bookcases is not an option because I already have 25 feet of floor-to-ceiling shelves and cabinets in one room and other bookcases throughout the house. Maybe I'll just pile the books next to the walls and then they won't need paint!