books

I love books... and I have quite a few, although alas there is never enough time to read them all! Indeed I have a small library when compared to my husband, who basically seems to own a few FACT books, a couple of novels, quite a few books relating to learning how to fly, and more bibles than me (and he's the atheist round here). However, it should be noted that I have considerably fewer books than some people in my family - Clari that would be you... and the rest of your family too :)

So our books have been sitting on the floor in the lounge for about 6 months... since we moved them out of the spare bedroom so my auntie and cousin could sleep in it in the summer. The pile looked like this... and was becoming more precarious by the day
A couple of weeks ago we ordered some wood from a timber yard (an enlightening experience... they knew their wood... and their page 3 girls). We took delivery on Friday, so we now have a garage full of wood for a dining table that we plan to make at some point... and the shelves. So on Sunday, whilst Ant set to in constructing these shelves (clearly a manly job), I got to work on a cupboard to go under the shelves.

Small aside about the cupboard:
We live near an "Age" (formally known as "age concern") furniture warehouse. We go there reasonably often in search of a great bargain. Normally we fail to find anything remotely nice. We do however have some friends that seem to have stylishly furnished most of their house from there... clearly they have more luck than us. Anyway we needed to go and see these friends so thought perhaps if we went to Age before hand we would get lucky... and we did to a certain extent... the pine cupboard below cost £40 which I think is a leeetle overpriced, but then you can't really bargain with a charity for grannies... it would just be wrong. Note the space above the cupboard... all ready for Ant's shelves.

So yes... after a weekend of shelf putting up and cupboard renovating we came up with 4 nice shelves and a cupboard that with a few coats of paint and some cheap wooden Homebase handles looks really quite nice (I am of course biased on this one).


I was happy dappy dooo da. Ant was slightly distressed, because we were left with a reasonable pile of books that don't fit on the shelves - even with optimal stacking of books in piles and putting them on the shelves 2 deep (some would say this is a crime in itself... it was a big concession on my part - particularly as it makes access to the Anne of Green Gables series difficult... and who knows when I might need to refer to what Anne and Gilbert did in Avonlea?) Such was his distress that he uttered terrible, sacrilegious words - "you have to get rid of some books". How could he say such a thing about my lovely lovely books? I was in shock... and refused point blank to get rid of any... and called him illiterate several times... which is possibly an over statement... but is reflective of my strength of feeling about my books. Anyway all is not lost as we have the wood to construct more shelves on the other side of the chimney so all will be well and I am sure I will be able to add to the collection. Disobedient wife that I am - I have been given a moratorium on all amazon purchases until I can say I have read every single book I own.

No room on the shelves for these books... and bizarrely a gong. nice. Please note that their location close to the fire does not in any way indicate that they shall be burnt.