So I have these two bookshelves and I’ve had the same two bookshelves for about ten years. LITERALLY. I bought them when I started teaching school in the fall of 2003. In fact, remind me to tell you the story of how I had them in my 5th grade classroom and I let a kid stand on top of one…. and the shelf broke…. and I caught him as he tumbled down. And I didn’t get fired.

(Well, I just told you the story after all. No need to remind me to tell you some other time.)

I keep getting books and giving some away and getting more because I have a book problem – I’m addicted. I love them. I have a line in my budget for books. And because my job is books and my friends write a lot of books, I get books in the mail fairly often. So my bookshelves are, um, stuffed.

I’m afraid my OCD is about to show, but just so you know, the left bookshelf is non-fiction in alphabetical order by author’s last name and the right shelf is fiction in alphabetical order by author’s last name EXCEPT the bottom shelf which is the gardening, teaching, and children’s book section. And they are double stacked- can you see that? Two rows on each shelf, but don’t worry- they are still alphabetically correct.

I’m a lunatic.

Intern Sarah and I decided it was high time that we deal with this double stack situation and the fact that it is a bit of a boring corner of my home.

So I hurried to Target and purchased two more very expensive bookshelves- they were $15 each. I’m really fancy like that. I put them together using an electric screwdriver even though the directions said not to because I AM A REBEL.

And I stacked them up.

Then I called Intern Sarah to come over. Because she is so very good at all the decorating things, as evidenced here. And I asked her to spread the books out and make this area of my house look adorable. One trick- she wasn’t allowed to spend any money. So she came over, scrounged around my house and basement, and collected some knicks and some knacks and did a beautiful thing.

RIGHT? Isn’t is gorgeous? Here’s a closer view.

And do you see that A F D on the second shelf on the right? THEY ARE CARVED OUT OF BOOKS.  I bought them in Laguna Beach a few weeks ago at a local shop, but you can get them at Antro as well.

I cannot quit staring at this corner of my house now. I love it soooo much. And it cost me a total of $30. And yes, the left is still nonfiction and the right is still fiction. And yes, they are still in alphabetical order.

So no, cute decor doesn’t cover up crazy. If you were wondering.