I Tried Marie Kondo’s Organizing Trick: My Bookshelf Looks “Happily Chaotic”

When you step inside my home, it’s immediately clear that my husband and I are avid readers. Although our bookshelves are at max capacity, they’re typically the tidiest, most organized spots in our home. I like to think books double as decor, and I love the look of them on display. That said, I’m always wondering how best to store our books to make our library even more appealing. 

I’ve never been a fan of turning the book spines in to reveal just the cream edges of the pages. To me it indicates that they’re not meant to be read, plus it makes it infinitely harder to find the book you’re looking for. My books are easily my most valuable possessions. To use one of the iconic organizer Marie Kondo’s key tenets, they most definitely “spark joy” in my life — and that’s why I wanted to use one of Kondo’s tips to find a smart way to organize them. 

Her KonMari method suggests something so simple yet so stunning that I couldn’t believe I didn’t think of it: In addition to sorting them by theme or frequency of use, she suggests organizing books by color. I never thought to try it on my own shelves before, because historically I’ve preferred books grouped by genre and author. But after what seemed like a never-ending winter, I was desperate for some vibrancy in my home. So I gave it a try on a bookshelf in my office. Here’s how it went.

The thought of organizing our entire home library strictly by color gave me panic, because I knew it meant separating books by the same author, which is not at all my style. However, I identified a “safe” spot for my experiment: a four-shelf bookshelf in my office dedicated to books on the writing craft and personal development. 

By keeping all of the books by the same author in the same bookcase, I was content knowing that at least I wouldn’t have to look very far for any of them. So I emptied the shelves, stacked the books around my office, and wiped the shelves down. Then, I got to work.

I dusted each book and its edges with a cloth before placing it back on the shelf and arranging by color in my best ROYGBIV attempt. It took me longer than expected, mainly because I overthought the colors a bit too much — Is this orange book more red or more yellow? This book has a white spine but bold blue letters, so where should it go? Eventually, I turned off my inner micromanager and got the books back onto the shelves in a near-rainbow order.

The top shelf held my red, orange, and yellow books, and I have to say that it makes me happy just looking at them. I almost don’t mind that the books go up and down in size — something I’m also fairly regimented about. The rest of my bookshelf is less than impressive, however. After the brilliant ROY shelf, as it were, I had a shelf of some pale blues and greens, followed by an eclectic yet boring group of pale spines. Then, there was a shelf of blue and purple books grouped in with the black spines. I was surprised to see that this grouping of books looked dark and dismal, almost foreboding. It’s odd, given that blue and purple are my favorite colors.

I’m willing to live with my shelves like this for a bit to see if it grows on me, but the stress of having one author’s books scattered on four shelves, and a writing memoir next to a book on money management next to a book on religion gnaws at me. It just doesn’t feel totally right for my home.

I’m not mad at Kondo for making me try something new. I’m mad at myself for not holding on to her basic “spark joy” philosophy: My bookshelves might look happy, but it’s happily chaotic because I don’t know where to look first. Granted, part of what I love about books is taking the time to peruse shelves, but when it’s my home library I’m happier when I can find the book I’m looking for quickly. For that reason, I’ll likely choose her method of organizing books by theme instead. 

It was a fun experiment, but when it comes to my home library I’ll take neat and organized (in my own way) over dopamine decor any day. But if organizing by color sparks joy for you, then by all means — this method might just change how you store books forever.