Chelone's post inspired me to share something: we have almost no books in our house. (awaiting the gasps of horror!!) We recently donated most of what we will not read or use again to our local library. We make weekly trips to the library and are very well read, but you wouldn't necessarily know it to look at our house LOL. I was tired of dusting, storing, and caring for something that really could be enjoyed by other people. We also donated most of our DVDs. It was very liberating and freed up a lot of storage space for us. Now I have a small collection of cookbooks in the dining room, some computer language reference books in the office, and just one or two beloved fiction anthologies in the bedroom. Not a solution for everyone, but it really helped reduce the clutter in our house. It also saves a lot of money on purchases that may only be used/read once or twice. My shelves are only about 25% books, and 75% storage (baskets and boxes storing our camera, computer cords, greeting cards, sheet music, extra reeds, decorative dishes, and photos.)

You donÂt think the first arrangement looks like a cave? I would hang the picture on the wall, not lean it, but it looks rather cramped. I have a pair of tall thin buffet lamps I was planning to use with the picture, except that the shades would hide part of it, making it look even more cramped. If I kept it in the middle, I thought of pulling that case out more from the rest to set it off, maybe 4-5 inches. What do you think about this idea: I have a piece of 1 ¼ thick granite, left over from my kitchen, I could put on top: almost same width but 18 ½ inches deep (except IÂm not sure about the color, which is rusty red and black). The cases themselves are only 11 ½ deep. That would mean the granite would project out from the front 2 inches, and the back of the bookcase about 5 inches. Make it look like a sideboard? But that makes the short case definitely the focal point in the room: IÂm unsure about that. Otherwise, in the other layouts, there really is no focal point. I imagine the eye will wander over the row of cases and then zero in on one of the art objects. The downside of #1 is that the corner canÂt be used now for a floor lamp. I can take the tall skinny case shown at right angles in the corner and put it by the door in place of the short case. But unless itÂs a skinny lamp it wonÂt fit in the corner. The uplight floor lamp I was planning to put there, because it throws a lot of light upward, has a 20" wide shade. The last arrangement before I posted here was #3. I find I am already dumping things on the short bookcase next to the door! But itÂs the only place to put my notes and tools right now. If I took back the short one to do #1, I could get another short but narrow one (15") for that spot, so I could still put a lamp on it. I know it will all look different once I have the books, art objects, and pottery on them, but I donÂt want to set them all up then decide to move the cases around again! There is no ceiling light, and there is only one window. Daylight is enough if you want to sit RIGHT next to the window, but I doubt I will ever sit there and read in the daytime. I am dependent on having good lamps in the room. I hate to clutter it up, though, I looked at Ikea (where I bought the bookcases) for bookcase lights, but they were all halogen, which is too hot; and too modern in style. I put a floor lamp in the corner for picture 3, and it cast a lot of light (could not use that shot with it on because it washed out the exposure). I wish I were not being so indecisive about this.

I see what you mean by the actual width of a CD. I have a skinny one made out of cheap wood that is less than 6" wide, I guess I was thinking that most were that width. The cheapie has thin wooden slats to hold the cds. If I did use a couple of those it would take a lot of dressing up before it looked even halfway decent. The Billy wall shelf WAS on my list of possibilities. Turned on itÂs side, though, at 13 ¾, itÂs an inch too wide. IÂm going on a field trip to Ikea tomorrow to look for other possibilities, and bring a sample shelf with me to check colors in other lines. I plan to stop at Hobby Lobby too. bronwynsmom, please go ahead! Get carried away! Maybe by brainstorming with all of you IÂll come up with the perfect thing. If I could find a wine rack with solid shelves rather than slats that would be great. The slats make it too obvious that itÂs meant for wine. Given that the room is upstairs, I donÂt think weÂd ever want to store wine there. Gets a little too hot and sunny in the summer. We store our wine in the basement (when itÂs not being used up too quickly to be stored). But that gives me another search term I can use. Possibilities! When I was redoing my kitchen a few years back I remember looking into a unit that would go horizontally underneath a cabinet that has small niches or cubbies. I think it was called a spice drawer unit. You could order it with or without drawers, or small wicker baskets. I dropped the idea then, because it was really expensive. Maybe I can find one again, without drawers, just shelves. WHY does every project I start turn out to be so COMPLICATED?!? And itÂs always some stupid little thing that stalls it.

loribee and Connie, thank you for the kind words. Connie, I just spent some lovely time on your blog, totally captivated by your new kittens and your roses. (I'm a new native gardening.) I love seeing what people have done with customizing other pieces but we're just not DIY folks at all. Hubby has ZERO interest and my abilities are limited. So mostly we either have to buy ready to go or pay someone to do things. One other reason to replace these is that I can then move some of them into my office which has shorter shelves and into hubby's office which also has shorter shelves. We need a lot of bookspace. les - no, the store won't come out here and it's not custom as in them building various sizes. Plus the store is an hour away. The fitting is pretty basic - I have 67" on one side of the fireplace and 73" on the other. All bookcases are 12" deep and there is 33" and 46" wide one to be used. So 12" + 46" = 58 with 9" left on one side and 15" left on the other because of course the fireplace isn't in the middle of the wall. :) Those gaps are too wide on either side of the fireplace to look decent and if I use these cases, I can't really make something to fit the small space and match. If I use the pine ones I have more widths to choose from, 24, 30, 36, 48 so I could do a 24 and 30 on one side and 30 and 30 on the other side which, when I add in the 12" depth for the cases from the other wall, gives me an inch to spare. But I need to figure out the heat registers and look at the case bottoms better today to see if we can cut the fronts for registers or mount them on bases of some kind. I tell you, I'm exhausted by all of this. Watching them demo the ceramic tile for the wood floor is going to be a piece of cake after this. :) The other think you might consider, and I dont know for sure what would be cheaper, would be to have the bookcases made of stain-grade plywood, or paint grade that you do in a deep black brown, or a white to match the fireplace. I spent another couple of hours looking at the various manufacturers on the stores website and found a couple of entertainment units that should work. I'll ask about them when we go today. Hubby is picky. We need something for the TV, no problem, but then the 4 components (DVD, TiVo, subwoofer and CD player) need a space that is open on both the front and the back. He won't use glass or cloth doors and wants an open back. (We'll just cut what we need from the back if it doesn't come open.) But like I said, I think there are a few pieces that would work and the handyman came by last night and said that he could do the bridge stuff I wanted. It's the heat registers to solve now. And can I just say again, thank you to all of you who read and comment and hold hands through this process? I don't have anyone local here to bounce this stuff around with so I really, really appreciate it.