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As a book lover, you have probably come across organizing books using a rainbow bookshelf. It’s all the rage right now for many reasons. Here are the 5 ways people have used rainbow bookshelf organization on a budget.
Proponents of rainbow bookshelves like them for the ease of locating specific books and the pop of color the setup adds to their indoor living space.
People with photographic memories prefer using the rainbow bookshelf arrangement system because it’s easier to recall books by colors.
Those opposed to rainbow bookshelves believe that using books for decorative purposes defeats the whole purpose as books are meant to be read.
Well, this article isn’t about the ongoing debate. It’s about exploring some of the unique ideas book lovers have used to organize their book collections using the rainbow bookshelf technique.
Be sure to borrow an idea or two and adapt it for your beautiful books.
1. Turning Covers to Show Off Patterns
Although the standard way to arrange books on a shelf is to use the spine-in system, book lovers have used a different format to show off bolder color patterns.
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There are two advantages to this. First, you get to show off your patterned books in a different way. It can be more appealing and eye-catching and reduces the time you spend perusing the shelves for the right book.
Secondly, it is a great way to save when you are on a budget. Since the book covers face the main living area, they take up a lot more space on the shelf than the spine-out system.
As such, you get the illusion that your rainbow bookshelf is already full. It follows then that if you are a book lover prone to buying books on impulse, especially for a decorative bookshelf, you will save yourself a lot of money by cutting back on impulse purchases.
2 Adding Non-Book Items
Filling a rainbow bookshelf takes time. People have filled entire bookshelves in a year. Others take two to five years, especially when the shelves are large. Whether you buy books for decoration or active reading, adding non-book items to the shelves helps reduce their emptiness.
Image Credit: Modernmrsdarcy
Using non-book items saves you money because you don’t feel pressured or intimidated by the vacant spots.
As long as the items are there, you can sit back and draw up a budget-friendly plan on what books to buy, when, and where to buy them.
Some of the items to add to the empty spaces of your rainbow bookshelf include toys, candles, plants, artificial flowers, dolls, teddy bears, and mild music systems.
3. Taking Off or Adding Dust Jackets for Color Change
If you are more inclined towards buying real books for reading rather than decorative purposes, you will agree that it’s tough to find books on the same topic with an exact matching color or a close color code.
Image Credit: Bustle.com
In this case, you can buy beautiful custom jackets for the books to make it easier to arrange them by topic, with specific color codes for different topics. For example, you might want to buy pink or purple custom jackets for all your religious books and green ones for gardening.
Since there are varying book sizes, it might be hard to make custom jackets on your own at first. However, consider buying ready-made jackets as you hone your skills and master the craft of DIY book jackets.
If you are already using book jackets, consider removing them if you have a large book collection that necessitates buying or making a new custom jacket each time you buy a new book. Taking them off helps reduce the cost of maintaining the rainbow bookshelf.
4. Coding Books by Color
There’s a reason it’s called a rainbow bookshelf. This system is not just about having books of different colors strewn all over the shelves. No. It’s about organizing books using the rainbow color system, which the following colors:
- Red
- Orange
- Yellow
- Green
- Blue
- Indigo
- Violet
When arranging the books, follow a snaking pattern using the color codes. It’s not a must to follow the Red to Violet order, but it would make your bookshelf more appealing if you are a stickler for neatness.
Image Credit: Modernmrsdarcy
Start with your red reads, followed by orange books on the same shelf or a different one. How you arrange them all depends on the number of books and shelves you have.
Arranging your favorite reads this way by book spine color makes the overall look of the bookshelf more appealing to the eye.
Make a specific shelf for black and white books not represented in the rainbow color scheme. It could be a single shelf for each color or one for two or more colors.
5. Multiple Same-book Copies? Keep the Prettiest!
Suppose you have multiple copies of the same book? While you can still keep both copies on the same rainbow bookshelf, it might be a defeatist strategy unless they are different editions of the same book.
Having multiple copies of the same book on a rainbow shelf works best for academicians and book editors rather than book lovers who read mainly for fun and enlightenment.
The extra copies can go into the boxes of books earmarked for donation or storage elsewhere in the house.
Keeping the prettiest copy means that you don’t have to incur the costs of covering, repairing, or binding the worn-out books. As a result, you can reduce the cost of maintaining your rainbow bookshelf using this trick.
Bottom Line
Whether you are a book lover for the nice reads or you only want books for decor, a rainbow shelf is one of the easiest ways to organize your books by color in your home library.
Make use of any blank wall in your house to put up a rainbow bookshelf as a home for your favorite books.
For a home library, have some custom shelves made for you to meet the needs of every family member. An extensive family library is a great way to show off your love and taste for books, and you can do it without breaking the bank.
What does your rainbow bookshelf look like?
