Miscellaneous Picture Books Now Organized by Color
Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 11:59PM 
This is the miscellaneous picture books shelf in our living room. Yesterday there were about twice as many books all haphazardly jammed onto it; these are the ones that didn't get sorted into some other, more logical place or category. I never (never!) thought I would organize books by color, but now I think it actually makes sense--for the miscellaneous picture books, at least. The kids love the new arrangement, too: Leo helped me line the books up; and even three-year-old Milly can put them back (when she wants to, that is).
[If you think I'm crazy: I saw this brilliant and beautiful book, Apples for Jam: A Colorful Cookbook by Tessa Kiros (Andrews McMeel, 2007) at Williams-Sonoma today. The recipes are organized by the color of the food. Thankfully, there's also an index (I checked).]
Reader Comments (7)
I love it! It's so pretty. Reminds me of something you'd see in a catalog. So do you feel the need to make sure the rainbow is evenly represented?? Seems heavy on the yellow and blue? :)
That's a great photo. I remember reading a story a few years back about an artist in San Francisco (I think) who got permission to take a store's or library's collection and organize it completely by color. The "installation" was up for a month. I always wanted to see photos of it, but never did.
i love the way it looks!
carterbham–i saw pictures of that exhibit and they were gorgeous!
Thanks, everyone! Brenda: I definitely noticed that some colors are underrepresented. Maybe all the pink books are in Milly's room?
And carterbham and kyra: Yes! That installation of 20,000 color-coded books was by Chris Cobb at Adobe Bookshop in San Francisco (2004). I've seen photos of smaller (personal) collections organized by color on flickr, too. It does look cool, even on a very small scale.
Love the colorful books. I think that picture deserves a frame. On one hand, it calms me thinking of sitting on the couch reading many books to a little one. On the other hand, it excites me, thinking of all the great stories on that shelf.
I love your books arranged by colour! Makes a beautiful photo. It's funny how you can instantly recognise books by their spine, my eyes were drawen to Olivia. I agree Apples for Jam is a gorgeous book, obviously one of those books that author and publisher have really cared about.
I love your books arranged by colour! Makes a beautiful photo. It's funny how you can instantly recognise books by their spine, my eyes were drawen to Olivia. I agree Apples for Jam is a gorgeous book, obviously one of those books that author and publisher have really cared about.