Is this what 99% of mumsnetters homes look like

[Damaged27]

After all these interior design threads this is what I'm imagining everyone on mumsnets homes look like. Just curious if I'm way off because iv never been in a home like this. Maybe if the person is in their 80s. Do people really have bookshelves?

You don't need a study or a library to have a bookcase.

@DragonFly98

I grew up in a house where my father had books to show his superiority, he read a fraction of what he owned. Books are another middle class marker. Personally I read and pass on. I hate clutter.

@PSEnny It's not having books and bookshelves that make children more academic. It's having parents that read and also read to the children. I do and did both, some of us just don't keep the evidence. I don't judge people for having books but I really judge those who show off about it.

Same here. Would love my own reading room but sadly unaffordable where we live and no, moving is out of the question!

We have hundreds of books and bookshelves in most rooms. And boxes of books in the box room and loft. And our house is in the style of the second pic. But we do not have a door with books on! In our 40s.

Absolutely! Lots of bookshelves.

Personally I try not to invite people around who are so judgemental as I prefer my friends to be kind and enjoy my company.

We have strong academic histories & intellectually demanding careers in this house but I also just upgraded to a 77” wall mounted TV as the 65” wasn’t cutting it. Bookshelves are not a sign of intelligence or academic capability. They’re a sign of people who like to have books in their house.

Honestly it's not owning books that counts, it's reading them!

I can't imagine how people go through life without books.

I'm not talking about novels, I mean everything else, particularly those which rely heavily on illustrations. Do people really not have a collection of cookery books, ones about British birds, wild flowers & plants, a dictionary, atlases, gardening books, reference books about family interests and hobbies, old books from their childhood, or books connected with their occupation or career?

DD has a kindle, but there's no way I could use one of those to look up things in a reference book or an atlas, where you can leaf through it to find what you want. How can you quickly riffle through a kindle to look at pictures of birds so you can identify the one currently in your garden before it flies off?

I use Google.

I sometimes feel you can have too many bookshelves - our dining room is wall to wall books (better use of a formal dining room than letting it stand empty) the sitting room has bookshelves, there are bookcases on the stairs and the study also has a wall of bookcases. I do cull periodically and all fiction is on the kindle but the books still seem to take over.......

When i was house hunting a few years ago i was really shocked at how many houses didn't have bookshelves - and there was a huge difference between houses in my local town (no bookshelves) and houses in the next (more expensive and 'arty') town over - bookshelves galore.

I massively downsized my books (moved from a house with a wall of shelves like the OPs picture) and moved to a house with no bookshelves. One of the first things I did was get some cheap and cheerful IKEA ones. I can't imagine living without being surrounded by books

We have Google if I want to see a picture of a bird or find a recipe I google it.

I have tons of books at home and love accumulating cookery books. I keep books to re-read or to pass on to friends in due course. My bookshelves have glass doors.

But what's your issue, OP? If you're not having to clean these cluttered houses, why is it even worth raising?

I have eight bookcases (plus some mini ones) and need more. I had this 'style' long before it was a fashion - and will have it long after it falls from favour. Literature is my life and job.

*Thing is op we tend to socialise with people similar to ourselves. So your friends/family probably have similar styles and interests.

I'm v. Sporty, DH is v. Sporty, lots of our friends are the same, we would think nothing of having sports stuff left out or gym bags stacked visible,*

Good point. What wall space we do have is probably more given over to musical instruments and equipment than books. I also have a herbal corner with many jars and potions and I have outdoor equipment and camping/hiking stuff out too.

Our living room was christened the TV room when my children were small and still referred to as that, because the TV is what dominates the room (all 32inches of it). If we brought guests straight into there they'd get the impression we had no interests. I don't really care if people judge us on that basis.

One wall of my dining room is floor to ceiling bookshelves all the way across. DH also built a floor to ceiling book case to take advantage of space in a hall way. We probably have around 1K books out on shelves. I have my Kindle and kindle app but if I am travelling or on the beach I will take a paper book with me. I can not imagine life without books on display.

I have an ikea "billy" bookshelf in the living room and a little children's bookshelf in my son's bedroom. I think most people I know have that sort of amount rather than wall to wall bookshelves. And there's an Aloe Vera on the kitchen windowsill but I've killed any other houseplants I've ever tried to have.

Bookshelves in both kids rooms (full to the brim). Both big readers so they collect whole series and like to keep them neat to re-read. Two bookshelves downstairs but we get rid of books we’ve read which we know we wont re-read. Ours are a mixture of books and photo frames. I don’t like clutter so don’t like anything overflowing, but very happy to have as many books as the kids ever want.

I have bookshelves, but don't have loud carpets or overstuffed furniture.

It's not an issue, more a curiosity. I suffer with quite severe mental illness which has made my world quite small and iv normalised it so I'm always curious about how others live.

I’m always surprised when people don’t have books. It’s one of those things that I think most people probably go with what they grew up with. We had loads as a kid and my parents had built in shelves like that all round a room. We don’t have that but we have bookcases in all the bedrooms (including the spare one) the study and the hall plus we have some books in the living rooms on units in the alcoves & on the shelving we mainly use for crafts. When we eventually have the money to get it done I’m having a full wall like that round the fireplace with a ladder. I also have about 1000 books on kindle and it’s super convenient but I love the feel of real books and we have space so we have hundreds of those too.

We have bookcases in lounge (tall books and DVDs), dining room (educational), all used bedrooms (live books), spare room (non active books we don't want to get rid of).

For the beach i always take an actual book. And the kindle for in the hotel amd the plane. A real book works better in the sunlight.

My house doesn't look like that because it used to be pink and I was soooo glad to get rid of that, but I do indeed have many many books on shelves.