We've talked about arranging items by colour before. It's a simple way to create a pleasing order among a group of objects. If you have a bunch of objects in one space, like a bookcase, why not take it one step further and put ROYGBIV to work...
For those of you who may have forgotten the lessons of their grade school art class, ROYGBIV stands for red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet aka the order in which the colours are arranged in a rainbow. It's an order which is naturally pleasing to the eye and can bring together a large group of objects which might normally not go together.
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I organize everything by color, I'm kind of obsessed to the point where people come over to my apartment and make fun of me for it. I've been doing it ever since I was little and I can't really explain why.
btw, I have that exact same ikea bookshelf in my apartment, with all the books arranged chromatically, just like this image! Crazy!
I love this look. I respond to it so deeply and immediately every time it's featured anywhere.
However, as a big-time reader, I could never live with books arranged by color or books treated as if they were simply decorative objects, like vases or cushions. My books have to be organized by content.
And yet, I do love the look and I can't deny that without the books, it would be much less interesting.
It makes me crazy.
the only thing i organize chromatically is my clothing and accessories.
almost everything else is arranged alphabetically or numerically. unless something is purely visual (colored pencils, ribbon, wrapping paper etc) it makes more sense to organize by content.
@Dulcibella -- Have you looked at librarything.com? I have my books arranged by color and then tagged by color/shelf # on library thing so that I can always find it.
But I tend to remember books by cover art anyway, and hardly ever have to reference my library thing index to find something.
I live in a beige/white/tan rented apartment and it’s a great way to bring some life and order into the blah. I have black, grey, brown, and tan books in my living room where I play up my more colorful artwork/pillows, and a rainbow in the dining room where all the rest of the furnishings are neutral.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1682767&l=7e9e5357b2&id=500186656
dulcibella -- I just started filling up our new bookshelves and I thought it would be fun to arrange by color too, but a modified version. I arranged the books by category like I normally would but grouped the books by color on each shelf. the color impact is not as big, but I can at least find what I'm looking for. it's silly, but it looks nice and makes me happy.
i love this look too, but my books usually arent bright colors like these- so covering them with colored paper and organizing them by content is a great idea like honey living suggested.
also, i LOVE those cased glass vases!!!
To me, using roygbiv as the basis for an organizing tool should only be used in an art studio of some sort where color IS content. And honestly - even in my own painting studio, I do not organize by color. Rubs my brain the wrong way.
I always think organizing bookshelves by color is the equivalent of hanging a giant painting of a rainbow on the wall. It looks like a kids' room. Rainbows aren't really stylish or appealing to me, so why would I want a giant rainbow bookshelf? It can look nice when the different colors are on different shelves around the room, for instance the green, blue, and white sections on one bookcase, and red on another shelf across the room.
I also like to organize my books by content, but when my main bookshelf was full I needed to move some books over to a new bookshelf in the living room. That bookshelf also holds picture frames, candles, and other art pieces so I pulled out some of my favorite books and some books with great spines and organized just one shelf by color. It's a great accent and makes it look so much more organized!
here's my attempt:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2013953&l=9023835288&id=536973037
i organized my glass bottle collection by the rainbow, so it just made sense to follow suit with the books and art on the shelves below.
I don't go by rainbow, it's a bit too much like riz said for my taste, but I do group books together by colour- I remember what they look like before I can recall the titles usually, so it helps to remember, say "the red book with the orange lettering," etc.
Actually, now that I look at my bookcase, I see I (unintentionally) went with contrasting colour combos - orange next to blue, black next to white, green across from red....
I'm with riz on this one. I organized table groups by rainbow colors when I taught elementary art.
Though I'm not a huge fan of rainbows as decor, I'm not sure why they have to connote childishness. It's not as though Lisa Frank has an exclusive hold on the natural prism effect.
Though, unfortunately, I don't have a photo to prove it, I've seen this done in a friend's home with muted tones. The effect was a bit like the bottom shelves of this arrangement— soothing and cohesive.
I'm also always amused by how many "serious" readers hate this idea, as though looking at the color of our books detracts from the words within. Some of us big time readers like our books arranged by cover art. If you know your books and their content, and you don't live in a public library, I think you are allowed to arrange your books how you like.
Ha!! I love Lisa Frank!
These are not our "serious" reading books, these are coffee table, art book, etc that are meant to be looked at, not necessarily read (there I said it.) This is only a handful of our collection, the most colorful and visually appealing.
In terms of rainbows - I'm for 'em. It adds a bit of visual interest to an otherwise utilitarian Ikea bookcase. It is fascinating to read everyone's comments about ROYGBIV. I had no idea it was so debatable :)