I have too many books to be able to do what you are advising your client but I totally agree with you that it does make a bookshelf look nicer. My bookcases are in the back room where we have our home office, hardly anyone who visits sees that room so I don't worry about the shelves. My living room is a different matter, where all rooms converge I have a small, narrow secretary. It's impossible to walk into my house without seeing this piece of furniture so I do place more importance on how the shelves look. You asked about books and I'm showing you shelves of DVDs but that shouldn't matter, same idea. I used to have all the shelves packed with DVDs but it looked boring and didn't do this little secretary justice. So I selected just the boxed sets and those that were part of collections and the rest went into albums. For fun I put my tea cups on the same shelf with my Jane Austen movies so there is a relation between them. I see now that there is merit to thinning out a *book* collection and putting some away in order to replace them with other loved items you have. I stop and look at the shelves now, never did that before. Bookshelves are more interesting to look at when there are other things on it than just books. And with more breathing room you see the individual books, there isn't that same feeling of packed in clutter. Only when there are too few books (and too few accessories) do I question why the person bothered to buy or build the bookshelf to begin with. p.s...since you're a designer, if you see anything wrong in the way I've arranged things by all means let me know and I'll move them around!

My bookshelves will be LONG. I can't remember the exact footage. Maybe 80 inches? This is a newer house so the studs should be roughly what? Every 14 inches. We can certainly put a bracket thingy at every stud. However, I was hoping that we wouldn't do that because you loose storage space with the supports that hang down. Additionally I don't expect to books on every shelf straight across the whole thing. However, having said that- it is probably best to plan on that because in this house we don't get rid of many books. Our furniture is knotty pine. I am going to make the front facia pieces be knotty pine. That would be for decoration. But the board itself could be something else- suggestions? We expect them to be about as deep as a traditional bookshelf. What would that be? maybe 10 inches or so? ANyways that is what we are thinking. Ginger

Cloud Swift - We came to the same conclusion as you regarding support. The unfinished pine we selected will basically be 9in depth and we have 2 bookcases (36in and 30in). So that spans 66in and we had just 67 inches. I am hoping the finish trim will take care of the rest. BTW, we did check out IKEA Billy and really liked the height extender and it seemed to be a good option as it had all sorts of other accessories like doors, bookends, lights etc. The depth was 11in and we felt 9in will give us a more builtin look as our recess was exactly that. We also wanted to maximize the seating there. I would have done Billy other wise. For price/ value, can't beat IKEA. As it is less than 10mi for me, it is sort of hard to avoid the temptation :)

Siobhan, I am firmly of the opinion that one should own all the books one loves if at all possible, and own them in print form, and preferably in hardcover, ideally clothbound with acid-free paper. Of course I dearly love several hundred books. But many books I have read, even read with pleasure, I know I will not want to read again. Those are the ones I pass along to others. I agree with you about formats becoming obsolete. Even though I am anxiously awaiting delivery of my new Kindle, I will still be buying and archiving print books. I could lose my Kindle, or it could be damaged or stolen, or perhaps ten or twenty years from now the format will change, and all the books I have stored on it will no longer be available to me. Electronic formats are unsurpassed for distribution, but not very good at all for preservation. As for videotapes, I re-watch favorite movies, and so have re-purchased my very favorites in DVD. I don't want to do that again in BluRay, or what ever comes next after BluRay, or whatever comes next after that. Rosefolly