(Art by Gil Elvgren)
For almost two weeks prior to the RIP V announcement I had virtually disappeared from the blogosphere. Though not a singular phenomenon, this time it was for something completely unrelated to work stress: I developed and fed a singular obsession. That obsession…
Get our basement cleaned out and organized ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!
The wife began discussing when I arrived back from my July conference in DC and I found myself in the same situation I am in every year in August, which is wanting to get certain less than pleasant projects taken care of so that I can enjoy the Sept-Dec. period, my favorite time of year. Something about this year was obviously different. Her desire for it to be done and my desire to do it clicked, we did some planning, and away we went.
I warn you, this post is image intensive, my apologies. The sense of relief at having it done makes me want to talk about it, and the pictures are as much to show you all as it is a visual thank you to my father, who took the time to help me build shelves to store items on, and to my wife and daughter who pitched in to help sort and pack and clean.
In order to understand just what an accomplishment this was, it is necessary to see a few before pictures which, believe me, do little to convey just what a mess our basement was.
When we moved in to this house in the fall of 2001 we found ourselves with an unfinished basement that, over the years, became a catch all for junk.
Even my nice library area, which you can see below, got filled with more and more junk. We decided that we would go through each and every box, bag, etc. in the basement. We threw a lot of stuff away. We donated many items to Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and we made several trips to the recycling bin to drop off cardboard boxes.
To ensure that we would be able to have a functional storage system, we bought a number of plastic tubs and my dad came over and spent a Friday morning with me building these strong, sturdy shelves.
As with any of our previous construction projects, we weren’t able to get through the job with a mere one trip to the local Home Depot. 🙂
The shelves were really just the jumping off point. What ensued over that weekend, and for the next week and a half, were several long evenings and late nights cleaning, packing, sorting, etc. I was truly a man possessed, which in the end was very helpful as I believe the results speak for themselves.
Since we had to store our extra chairs in the basement anyway, I thought it would be fun to make a little sitting area over near the new shelves.
It is great to have so much storage space. We left one end for storing the bulk items and sale items that we buy.
A few years ago we installed a second toilet down the basement. Someday we’ll actually finish the basement. In the meantime, I decorated the area a bit. The little wicker storage bin under the bench is for comics that need to be read. And yes, that is a current RIP read there on the bench. What better place for reading than on the throne?
I had been reading a bunch of essays on Tolkien over the weeks leading up to this so it seemed like a fun idea to put a Tolkien quote on the blackboard as part of the bathroom decoration:
Frodo: “I wish none of this had happened.”
Gandalf: “So do all who live to see such times but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
It wasn’t until just recently that I saw the humor in such a quote when considered in light of bathroom usage.
I bought a cheap bookshelf and assembled it and placed it at the bottom of the stairs to hold the books, audio books, and dvds that we check out from the library. It will be nice to have them in one central location vs. being spread out all over creation.
Once all the major storage and cleaning was done I was able to take my time and enjoy cleaning up the library/craft area. In the process I discovered several fun things that may find their way to giveaways for the RIP V and other challenges! After the following images, all images until the end can be clicked on to open a larger version. This is simply for the voyeur spirit of book lovers. I apologize for the poor quality of the images. Too many drops have rendered my camera a bit wonky. It likes to turn itself off and on randomly and I was having the devil of a time getting the flash to work. If it was closer to Halloween, I would swear it had a poltergeist.
So nice to see the actual surface of my make-shift work space. It has been a long time!
The Fall, such a great film. My friend Scott got me this library poster awhile back, knowing that I am a big fan of both Sandman (which he introduced me to) and the art of Tara McPherson. (Have any of you seen the re-release of the novel Bridget Jones’ Diary with the cover designed by McPherson? It is great.)
The library space, as you can see, is much improved. The following pictures are just a tour around the area.
I decided to display a small amount of my books with Robert McGinnis illustrated covers on the top shelf and on the second shelf display some of the paperback books with covers I enjoy for various reasons. Not surprisingly, there are many books here that I have yet to read that I bought simply for love of the art featured on the cover. For example, Anne McCaffrey’s novel, Killashandra (lower left hand corner) which I have admired for decades and finally picked up at a used bookstore recently. On that second shelf are cover images by Frank Frazetta, Michael Whelan, Richard Powers, and a host of other top-notch illustrators.
Below those are my collections of Hi Fructose and Juxtapoz (fantastic art magazines) and Gothic Beauty and Realms of Fantasy, small pieces of art in their own right. And of course Hellboy and BPRD graphic novels and other comic art books and magazines as well as stunning books written and illustrated by Shaun Tan, among others.
I got the signed print of The Nocturnals from creator Dan Brereton years ago and it is an especial favorite around this time of year. Statues from Star Wars, X-Men, Soulfire and Gloom Cookie along with a few DC related toys round out the mix, and below are some of my comics, FINALLY sorted into individual categories by title and arranged in correct numerical order. Took a long time, but it was worth it.
Looking at this picture below reminds me that I need to order the 4th and final issue of Delphine by Richard Sala now so that I can finish the story for this year’s RIP Challenge. (Done and done.) 🙂
All along the top shelf on this side I displayed some of the art prints, etc. I’ve picked up over the years.
Below that are the puzzles that have been gifted to me the last several years. We have a tradition of putting together a puzzle every Christmas break and each year for a several years we’ve had a new Kinuko Y. Craft puzzle to put together. Thankfully there are several still that I do not own. Incidently, the puzzle on the far left is of a piece, Cave Girl, by Frank Frazetta which was the inspiration for Neil Gaiman’s short story The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch, featured in the collection Fragile Things.
And of course more books and magazines. You can see the side in its entirety in the image below. I took an unused bookshelf of my daughters to place at the end of the row. The top shelf currently is holding books that I hope to get to before year’s end, including some for the RIP V Challenge.
I even found room to display Johnny (on the left, Mary’s) and Teddy (on the right, real original name that, mine), the friends that got my dear wife and I through our childhood dreams and nightmares, accidents and adventures. Seems fitting that they each are missing the opposite eye…together they can see things just about right.
Thanks again Dad for your help building the shelves. I really appreciate it, we all do, more than we can say. Love you!
And thanks Mary and Tori for helping make this a reality. It feels so good to have this done and to be able to enter my favorite time of year without this burden hanging over me.
_____________________________________________
As promised there are a couple of prizes to be awarded for the RIP V Challenge
The winner of the bookplates (pictured above) and a few other Jennifer Gordon goodies is:
Kristen M. of We Be Reading!!!
Kristen, please send me an email to poegeek (at) gmail (dot) com giving me your snail mail address. Congratulations!!!
The winner of two prints of your choice (buy one get one free now on special for those interested) from Jennifer Gordon’s Etsy shop is:
Melwyk of The Indextrious Reader!!!
Melwyk, please go visit Jennifer’s shop and let me know which two prints you would like. I will put in the order and have them sent directly to you. I’ll need your snail mail address as well. Congratulations!!!
Fret not dear readers, there will be more prizes to win in the coming weeks.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Fantastic! I already have some ideas of which books those bookplates will grace! And I am incredibly green with envy over your library space — green and also a bit inspired.
Kristen: Congrats again. It is fun with the basement space because I can decorate in a more crowded, slightly chaotic way than I would anywhere else in my house. It is a fun space to just be more free with.
Wow. Wow. Wow. What a transformation!!! (You surely must know how badly I want to beg you to come tackle my basement now, don’t you?) Though frankly, I’m surprised any of you has the energy to move! I can’t believe how much you all accomplished in such a short time! Really, Carl, it looks fantastic!!! Hope you have lots of time to relax and enjoy it!
Is your basement one larger area? It would be cool to see a photo of the whole vista of the basement.
I’d like to come flip through your library and look at all the great covers.
You did an amazing amount of work. Did you design and build those shelves youself, or were they a kit? I like all the blue storage bins. We don’t have a basement, and our attic is stuff with plastic bins like yours, but not arranged on neat shelves. Every Christmas we have to get down about eight of them.
Great job. Just think of it as physical blogging.
I also LOVE those shelves and am jealous of your space! So cool not only to have a space to organize all of your collections but to also be able to display the items that are special to you 🙂
My biggest thought seeing all these pictures is: Wow I miss having a basement! We can’t have basements where I live. Sigh. You did an awesome job in there Carl!
I love the idea of putting a chalk board in the bathroom. That quote totally had me cracking up. Brilliant. I’m about to move into a new house, and I’m obsessively plotting ways to turn every available wall space into book shelves. Too much fun.
The Fall is the only movie I’ve ever watched on a little screen in the back of a plane seat. I liked it a lot, but I feel that the setting didn’t do it justice. I should track that one down and watch it again.
Sarah: I imagine that it didn’t entirely do it justice, but that is at least a good film choice for a plane flight. Usually they are much worse. Best wishes on your move. It is exciting to be able to decorate a new place.
Amanda: Thanks! If we didn’t have a basement, I’d have to do a great deal more culling of our stuff. Which probably wouldn’t be a bad thing, ha!
Patti Smith: Thanks, it is fun to be able to do it. The day will come when it probably won’t be that way, but for now its fun to enjoy it.
Jim: Yes, it is one large area. The steps go down the middle and separate the area with the totes and the area with the books. Then there is a back half which, now, thankfully, is largely open and empty, with a washer and dryer and freezer. I hung those black sheets a few years ago to cordon off the library area.
My dad has built shelves like that before so he knew what to do with them and we just took some quick measurements and got down to building them.
You’re welcome to come and flip through stuff anytime! 🙂
Debi: Thanks, I will. I cannot tell how utterly perfect it is for me to have this done right at the start of the RIP Challenge. I will enjoy the experience even more now that this is done. Give me a time and I’ll head your way with my cleaning hat on!
wow! You and Mary worked your buns off! and it looks Fab!!!
I always feel good when I clean “extra good” and stand back and admire it! lol.. I’d pat myself on the back if I were you!
All the vicarious thrill of having cleaned my house without having to actually clean my house!
I am so impressed with your cleaning and organization skills and so jealous of your basement! I have but a tiny, gravely, buggy crawl space.
Wow, I can’t tell you how excited I am! I love Jennifer’s artwork 🙂
And that basement looks amazing. What an inspiration to do some clearing out of my own.
I can only saw wow! The difference between before and after is absolutely amazing! I wish my basement were larger as it needs, ahem, the same treatment! I’m trying to figure out how to organize my book room, only the room is too small for the number of books in it and it doesn’t help that my niece has several stacks of plastic bins of toys and there are also workclothes and boots. I want to say, no, this is MY room, but it will appear too greedy….Your finished space looks great!
Best. Basement. Evear.
I love love love my alphabet of thorn puzzle. Where praytell did you get the others, and what are they called? I’ve been looking for good fantasy-ish puzzles like alphabet of thorn and have had no luck. Those look like exactly what I want. Haha.
Wow … this is amazing! You’ve inspired me to get back to decluttering our den, which I started over the 4th of July weekend.
Great job!
I love your new space! I’ve been thinking about decluttering my home just a little but my family swears I go overboard! 🙂
Great work on the basement. Nice to see your library.
Your basement is a place of MAGIC AND WONDER! 😀
Basement looks GREAT. Awesome work Tori, Mary and Carl !!!
The best part is it’s so organized so I can borrow things more easily in the future. 🙂
Jeff S: Thanks. And yes, feel free to browse!
Stormfilled: So lovely to hear from you, as always. Hope all is going well with you. It is even more Magical and Wonderful now that it isn’t a maze of boxes and junk. 🙂
Mish: thanks. feels great to be done.
Vasilly: I was pretty up front with the family that we were going to get rid of A LOT of stuff. There is sentimentality and then there is just silliness, and we tried to at least fall somewhere in between.
Melissa: Great! Hope your project goes well.
Escapist: Originally they were selling them in Hobby Lobby craft shops, but most of them I’ve put on my Amazon.com wishlist and they are much cheaper through Amazon. I just search the games/toys section for Kinuko Y. Craft and you’ll generate a listing of the puzzles with her artwork.
Danielle: Greed is good! No wait, wrong context. Anyway, I certainly know what you mean about not enough space for books. Despite what I still have it really won’t take much for me to be tapped out with my shelving. And I’m not one to double layer books on bookshelves…it is against my religion. 😉
Melwyk: Congrats, I’m very happy you won. Send me your address to my email once you figure out which prints you want and I’ll get everything paid for and arranged with Jennifer to ship them to you.
Trisha: Thanks!!! If it helps any, I did kill several spiders and cleaned up many spider webs while doing the big clean. And then I sprayed for bugs so the little, er, buggers, wouldn’t come back.
Raych: LOL! I hear you!
Deslily: Thank you very much, we are certainly happy with the result of the efforts we put in. And it has been fun to show it off and admire it, simply because it is finally done!
Wow. Mary told me you had made great progress on this project, but this far exceeds any and all expectations I had. That is truly amazing.
I’d like to say I am inspired to tackle my own basement (which has more of a spider problem than a clutter problem) but I think I’ll shoot for something a little less intimidating and start on the guest room/box room first. I’m not sure I have courage to post before and after pictures though.
Congratulations!
Your basement looks great, especially the library area! I spent many, many years trying to organize my own basement, but I ran into issues with the rest of my family. It was easy enough to sort through my own possessions, but my mother insisted that every single thing she owned was a wedding gift and thus had to be kept. Now that I’m gone, I think she’s finally started to go through all her things and throw some out. I hope I’ll find a much cleaner basement when I return to Canada.
Memory: I hope you do as well. It certainly takes a commitment on everyone’s part to not end up keeping every little thing. As it is we still have A LOT of things that we probably should part with and we’ve already planned to go through each bin again to weed things down even more.
Mosker: Ah, before and after pics are part of the fun…plus it helps with the motivation! You’ll have to come over and see the whole thing in person sometime. I know you saw the mess before, so the transformation is even more jarring up close.
I am hugely impressed, Carl, this all looks fantastic and will be an inspiration to me as I take a few days off around next weekend to sort out my study/home office. If the results are half as good as yours then I will be well pleased!
I’m currious. What did you spray for spiders? I had heard you can’t spray for them so I’m curious what you used.
Jeff S: It is Ortho Home Defense. It says it is for spiders, among other things, with the exception of two of the more dangerous ones, the black widow and the brown recluse.
Bride: Thank you. I’m impressed too, impressed that we finally stuck to the plan and got it done. I hope yours are suitably impressive to you and yours and that you have fun doing it. As much work as it was I really did enjoy it once I got tucked in.
Damn Carl!!! Words cannot express how impressed I am!! From the shelves and the sitting area to the bathroom (I actually really love that bathroom!! With the cinder block wall to the chalkboard and everything in between, it’s really cool) to the absolutely INCREDIBLE library and displays you’ve set up, it’s just amazing!! Job well done 🙂
Nice job. I wonder about how many linear feet of bookshelf you have now?
Wow, that’s a pretty amazing clean-up job. This looks like a ton of effort, but don’t you just love the feeling of things being clean and in their places? I have to say, I love the chalkboard in the bathroom. Welcome back to blogging 🙂
Ok, things I love about this post:
1. The incredible improvement with the shelves and organized space. Well done!
2. The Lord of the Rings quote above the toilet. That is my favorite quote from the series, and in that context…genius! Bwahaha!
3. That red chair in your sitting area. Wherever did you find it?
4. The stack of Gothic Beauty magazines. I love that magazine but haven’t been able to find a copy for the last several months. I should just subscribe already.
So bravo! I have to say I appreciate your taste in, well, pretty much everything. 🙂
Your basement looks so nice-I love relaxing in your sitting area. Bathroom next!! We have extra tiles to contribute!! Dad likes helping you kids,you know that! Love you,Mom
Mom: Thanks. And thanks for loaning out dad!!! 🙂
Jen: Thank you. I don’t pick up every issue of Gothic Beauty. I usually thumb through them and if I like what I see then I’ll take it home. Barnes and Noble and Borders both usually carry it.
That is one of my favorite, if not THE favorite, quotes from the series as well.
The red chair is from the children’s show, Blues Clues, and was available at various locations when the show was first popular. We bought it for Tori when she was a kid and she’ll take it with her for her child…my granchild (gulp!) one of these days. In the FAR future hopefully, LOL!
Maria: It does feel great to have things clean. I cleaned the upstairs for last night’s Fantasy Football draft and it is wonderful to sit here on Labor Day not doing any labor!
Richard: If I include my other two bookshelves in the house–
and
and count the space I have with other items besides books on them, I have around 92 linear feet of bookshelf space.
Chris: Thanks. The toilet is still a bit “out in the open”, which tends to freak people out, but someday it will all be walled in properly.
The transformation is amazing! I imagine your sense of accomplishment is even stronger! My husband and I did something similar this past August as well. Now, every time we go down into the basement, rather than be embarrassed at all the crap down there, I can show it off with pride that we are actually organized and do care about our belongings! Phenomenal job!
Wow! Congratulations! That was a lot of work, and a wonderful transformation…now if I could only convince my housemate to do that with HER half (actually, she’s taken 3/4) of the basement!
Birdie: Thank you. 🙂 Here’s hoping your housemate sees the light, as I did. Eventually.
Michelle: Congrats to you both, I can definitely relate to what you describe and how you feel. Thanks.
congrats on the newly organized basement! I know exactly how much work you put into it seeing as how my garage is fastly approaching the same state as your before pictures! I keep telling my mom one of these days i’m just gonna open the garage door and have a sale! Soon i hope!
Wow Carl! Your basement now looks completely fantastic! Want to come and do mine? 😉
First, the basement looks great. Reminds me that I’ve been meaning to do something like that for the garage.
Second, in your bookshelf pics in the comments, you have a white dust-jacket for Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I’ve never saw the white one. I have a red copy and a black copy. Cool.
Wow, am I ever envious of your bookshelves! What an amazing collection. 🙂
And I spotted a favorite of mine in Killashandra! I hope you’ve got the other two books in the series as well (Crystal Singer and Crystal Line). I love the world Anne built for those stories (and secretly wanted to be a Crystal Singer myself for a while)!
“About 92 linear of bookshelf space”
Not bad, and I’ll bet you’re glad to have it! Right now I have about 260. Recently I figured what I’d need to get every book (many boxes in the garage. the extra stacks of books here and there and so on, including reference books, oversized art books, graphic novels and so on) on a shelf, single-shelved so I can see every title, I need about 400. Yikes!
Richard: Yes, I would have guessed that you had much, much more. I am happy to have it and know that one day, at present rate of acquisition, I’m going to need your linear shelf space! 🙂 Yikes indeed! And yet I’d love to come peruse every inch of that shelf space.
Carrie: I don’t actually have the other books and have yet to read any Anne McCaffrey, but I loved the cover when I used to work in a bookstore and shelved books and one day not long ago a used bookstore was going out of business so I bought this rather nice copy of the book for almost nothing to, at the very least, fulfill my desire to have the cover in my collection. Glad to hear you like the stories. Maybe I’ll finally get around to reading her one day.
Logankstewart: Thanks. Yes, I picked up the white copy right when it came out. I’d actually like to pick up a red and a black copy at some point just to have a copy of each sitting next to each other on the shelves.
Stefanie: Thanks so much. It is great to be able to go sit down there, look over books, etc. and not see a big mess everywhere.
sgist: My garage was in that kind of state last year before a similar work project cleaned it up and was also quite messy before I finished this project as it was housing all the recyclable material, giveaway stuff, and trash until it could all be hauled off.
You’re welcome any time, Carl, though we may be moving (don’t know where yet) in which case you could help load and carry boxes of books… always a fun thing!
Richard: I’d be willing to help load books INTO boxes…of course I’d take forever because I’d be looking at all of them. Perhaps taking them out and shelving them would be a better project.
Moving eh? After all your bookshelf work lately? Wow! Hopefully you’ll find a home with A LOT of shelf space. Anything prompting the move?
Just the need for space. I’ve owned this 1000 sq ft. 2 bdm, 2 ba condo for 20 years, but when I got married about 5 years ago we combined 2 households into it and things got pretty tight.
I had to sacrifice space that had been book/magazine/my stuff space for her clothes and other stuff. THEN she started making quilts, and there was a lot of equipment (2 sewing machines, sewing and cutting tables, storage cabinets for rulers, needles, cutting wheels, and other stuff) plus a ton of fabric. No we are really crammed in here, and though it’s organized by necessity, it’s no longer comfortable nor adequate. plus I’ve kept buying books…
So we’re looking for more rooms in more square feet. Most couples at our age are downsizing and trying to pay off the mortgage. We’re going to take on a mortgage (this place is paid off), and it upsize, as crazy as that seems. But that’s what we need to do. It’s a matter of finding a place that suits us.
Richard: I don’t think it is crazy if it makes you both happy. And it sounds like you are both wanting a reasonable amount of space so that you can pursue your passions and hobbies. And hey, when you do buy a place you’ll be helping the economy and doing a big favor for whomever you buy it from. All sounds good to me.
We’re mostly looking in Portland and Lake Oswego, Oregon.
Richard: I’ve only been up that way once, but I loved it. It is a beautiful area of the country.
A huge project you undertook, for sure. Good for you that you accomplished this task that has been beckoning you for a bit of time.
Are you enjoying your new organized space? I would be. We are currently in the midst of a project. Well, I should say that my husband is. We (he) is putting up two walls in our lower level to create a room for our third child. She has been sleeping in her corner room without walls for over a year. This room is also were our family tv space is, along with the family computer space. That means she has not had much privacy. That’s the breaks when you don’t want to share a room.
Anyway, the frame for the walls are up. Next up is the drywall and then paint.
For your space, WOW! You seem to have a ton of books, but maybe the photos are a bit deceiving. Although, looking back over your photos, I bet I have as many books (if not, more) but mine are not all out, they are stored in bins that are stored in my crawl space and garage. Hmmm…I should take a look at them again.
One of my first immediate thoughts upon looking at your spaces is…Geesh…I wish I had a nook in my house that I could carve out to create something similar to what you have been able to do. One day…maybe.
With my book loving mind, I am drooling and lusting over the thought of a library nook of my own. Beyond that specific drooling….I really like your To Read Is To Dream poster. That would be one cool poster to have in my home near our bookshelves. I think I am going to keep my eye out for something similar.
On the shelf next to the shelf you snagged from you daughter, you have a comic book featuring a female (thinking the person is female) with goggle looking glasses…I like that cover, what is the name of the book? I like that framed drawing as well…the woman with the serpants in her hair. Did someone you know draw it?
Question for you, are you not worried about any flooding occuring that could possibly ruin your books and stuff? That would be my worry, although I do have books in our lower level.
By the way, I really like how you have the containers on shelves. I think that may help to keep things organized and an easy way to actually locate stuff. I wish I had that too…again, we lack space. Although, our crawl space could be utilized a bit better. My friend Jody has a great use idea with her crawl space that I sort of want to mimic with a few tweaks.
Enjoy the fruits of your hard work…enjoy your space.
Wait! I just saw the other two pictures you put into a comment. I really like the idea of the shelving next to the door and the books over the door. That is a great idea! Now you really have my mind rolling around with possibilites. I can see that for sure, your house would be a home that I would walk in and would love to browse the shelves. I love doing that at my friend’s and sister’s home. I am always checking out what books they have. Is that rude? I think not because these people know me, and besides…I provide great conversation. ha.
Okay…I am done commenting because it seems that I could keep going on so I must utilize some restraint. 😉
(Look! I live! ^-~)
I think that cleaning spree totally deserves an image-heavy post, Carl. It looks like you and your family did some absolutely amazing work! You should be incredibly proud of yourself. ^-^ I envy you your storage space and useable basement. ^-^ I hope you’ll be able to keep up the neatness!
And bookcases beside the door? Oooh, I wish I had that! (Alas, I have a wardrobe which is also important, but still.)
Shanra: She’s alive!!! 🙂
Thanks, I wanted to post the pictures too just as a measure of triumph in getting something accomplished that I think we both thought we’d never get to, let alone finish.
Ibeeg: Congrats on your project. I’m sure your child cannot wait for that to be finished! Hope it goes well and goes quickly. I’m certainly liking the space for books. I do have a lot, but in comparison to others I actually don’t have a ton of books. Especially after culling out at least 100 over the last year to sell towards reducing debt (which is going very well, by the way). At some point I want to actually have a “real” library, with nicely built in wooden shelves, etc., but for now this is a nice makeshift place in which to celebrate reading and creativity.
The Sandman reading poster was sent to me by my friend Scott. He knows I’m a fan of both Sandman and the artist Tara McPherson. It is nice to finally have it up. The book you are referring to with the goggles is Comic Book Tattoo. It is a series of stories written and drawn by various artists and writers all inspired by Tori Amos songs. It is listed on Amazon for less than $20, and I imagine you can get it through the library or through interlibrary loan.
The Medusa picture is a print of an image drawn by an artist by the name of Scott Lewis. He is from this area, but I know him because of comic book covers. I just ordered these from his website a long time ago. I have a couple different portfolios of his work and another framed pencil print of a 1950’s style space girl.
The shelves in my bedroom around the door were built a few years back by my dad and I. I had this wasted alcove around our bedroom door and I saw a picture of a similar bookcase in Better Homes and Gardens magazine, so I designed this one and we got to work and put it up. I love it. It is by far my favorite spot in our house. It really helped establish all the rest of the bedroom, which definitely has a book/art theme.
I’m not too worried about flooding. We have had some basement leaks in the past but they are way at the other end of the house. These shelves sit about 3-4 inches off the floor so we would have to have A LOT of water for damage to occur, and if water was coming in like that I would be schlepping my books upstairs quickly, which would be even easier to do now that the basement is all organized. Damage is of course a risk, but I think that is true anywhere in the house. Can’t protect against all natural disasters. That is what insurance is for, I guess.
I love to browse people’s bookshelves as well, which is one of many reasons why I don’t want to have to box up my own books unless it is absolutely necessary. I want to be able to visit them whenever the mood strikes.