apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Ooh, that book collection... clearly a person after my own heart. Who's the happy owner of the books?

I think it's cute but not too practical if you need access to your books.

Nice bench, though.

I like this idea. I wouldn't put it in my living room because of kids, but in our bedroom (off limits), this would be perfect for a reading corner beside a chair. It's perfect enough to have a selection without having a bookcase.

In my opinion: some books are very important, and should protected, cared for, and properly shelved. The rest belong on the www. or on Kindle.

If you must stack books, stack them so that the largest are on the bottom and they remain constant or decrease in size. Letting books sit on top of smaller books, apart from making the stack less stable, isn't good for the larger book that isn't being properly supported. Shelving with the spine out (never up!) is better, though.

You could use a wide bench as a shelf with bookends (i.e., not just a place to set stacks), but of course the stacks are a little more space-efficient in a small area.

Ugh, another stacking book threads? If you have room for this bench, you have room for a bookshelf that would hold at least that many books if not more.

not everyone that is into reading and having books around them is into bookshelves or "preserving" books. and... sometimes, you work with what you have instead of buying something new.

though i agree that we see a LOT of threads about keeping and storing books, i think we can be open minded enough to acknowledge more than one way to skin a cat.

What do people do when they want a book off the bottom of the stack? Or are these more for decoration?
Nearly all the books I keep in my house are there because I reference them fairly frequently I don't think I could stand not having easy access.

I totally agree, there are more ways to skin the perverbial cat than one and that goes for how one stores books and being a book lover I do a bit of both, I have bookcases for most of my books but where I've run out of room, they get stacked on both bedside tables and I have a few others that are stacked selectively, 2-3 at a time and most of what I have stacked are there because I'm slowly reading them.

That said, benches don't have to be long, meaning, they can simply be a stool's width and have some books on them and a low bench placed under a window is a perfect spot to stack some "leftover" books that can't fit on the shelves.

And besides, people work differently and thus require different methods to storage and all that so please keep that in mind when commenting on such threads.

I guess my opinion comes from the fact I keep the books I love and if I had a book I didn't care about so much I'd stack it, I'd just give it to the local Goodwill or something. I don't see kissing money away....bookshelves are much more organized and much more eye-appealing than a bench stacked with books.

Wow--what a great idea! Stacking books on a horizontal surface with legs. I LOVE THIS!

Great reminder as to why enjoy my local public library.

Dear Folks,

If any of you are still reading this post, please know that as the owner of the bench pictured, I do love and respect my books. I do read them all. Yes, I shuffle them around. Yes, I need a bookshelf. But this happens to be near my elliptical trainer, and it holds things that I read often while working out, and reread, and love, and yes, use. The stack has gotten a bit tall, I can see that. Dear book sticklers, take comfort in the fact that I do not keep my first edition or fine press books here.

Cheers!