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?

Especially when they have the approval of the Big Guy!

No, I've got no shelves in my living room as it just gathers dust that I can't be arsed with.

DH has bookshelves in his office.

No bookshelves here.

We're avid readers but I never understood the idea of collecting books. They get very dusty and the pages yellow and deteriorate over time. Paper backs in particular aren't made to last. If you love books surely it makes sense to share the love and keep them in circulation by passing them on.

We have several bookcases, including a low one for my son which is alreafy full of books, he isn't even 2 yet. I think a love of reading is so important and it's the best gift I can give my child.

I’ve two in my bedroom and one in the living room. Each of the children’s bedrooms has one too. I recon there’s about a thousand books all in. I read paper books as I prefer the feel. I also have a kindle and iPad that are useful when travelling but not my first choice. I think it’s important to model reading kids as there is a significant correlation between reading and academic performance. My kids were/are avid readers and all have done very well academically.
I have a thirst for knowledge and I find reading is a great way to quench it. Digital media are also helpful but nothing beats a book for me.

My house has bookshelves, doesn’t look like those pictures. I actually need to put up more bookshelves because my night stand, under my bed and next to my bed are all getting a bit out of hand.

I give all my thrillers and popular fiction away, but usually hold on to books I want to come back to - often non-fiction, particularly those I would like my kids to read when they are ready.

I tried to use the kindle but I just didn’t like the experience in the end, also, you can’t give your kindle book to someone else to read, and it simply isn’t the same. With paper books you can sit up, lie down treat the thing badly, read it in the pool on holiday if you like. I also find kindles and iPads uninspiring. All you see is the title.

It’s a depressing thing, the thought of a home without books. 😨 I find it odd, the slightly judgmental tone of the OP, as though there is something shameful about reading and loving books - as though they are just ‘mess’. 🥶

I reread books, so I have lots of bookshelves. I also have Kindle for travelling. Don't have those ugly rugs though.

Do people really have bookshelves?

what on earth haha, is this a joke? Yes of course people have bookshelves. I have six. But my house doesn't look like that.

I've been listening to lots of book on audible / borrow book lately.

Don't tell me I haven't read them.Feels a lovely breezy way to do it.

Not exactly like that but we do have bookshelves. As does everyone I know.

I'm just saying to me it looks cluttered and the only people I know who have cluttered houses like this tend to be older as they have accumulated a lot of stuff over the years

Books dress a room. Books are all part of the decor of a home. You don't have to be old to have books, you just have to love and appreciate books.

There's sex before they've tied the knot (even though she keeps it behind the bedroom door.)
I also find the chicklits slightly titillating because of the frustration built into the storylines- they want to be with the hero but there has to be something that means they can't immediately etc.

Um I think there are plenty of people who read every day and aren't on anything like £142K.... they are rich in other ways though!

I have a book given to my grandmother by her mother in 1933 (my grandmother would have been 16) The Pageant of the Century: Amazon.co.uk: Books

I have loved and cherished it since I was in my teens (a good four decades) for the fascinating light it shed on the society she grew up in, as well as a treasured memory of a much loved grandma who died too young.

Yes, many books are transient, but sometimes having a physical object is an opening into a past world.

I listen to audio books too but the experience is quite different to actually reading the words on a page where you can go back to admire the writing. So I'd disagree with you — they are different things.

Ok.....backs away slowly...

Yes we have bookshelves 😂

Not floor to ceiling like in the pictures because we have low 1960s ceilings and I don't think it would have worked, so our bookshelves are low and long across one wall in the living room. This has the added benefit of providing a great surface for an eclectic array of more books, plants, lamps, ornaments 😂

I used to have a couple of shelves full of books but donated the lot. I’m trying to aim for less clutter and ‘stuff’ and never ever read a book more than once. Now I use the library.

None of that makes them evil, though. Sex before marriage is perfectly normal!

My house looks nothing like this. Mines very modern and minimalist. No bookshelves but im an avid reader, the only plants I have are herbs for cooking.

I mean, chicklit is generally terrible, but I wouldn't call it evil!

My house looks nothing like that despite DH and I being avid readers. We moved to a small house and gave all the books we had read to charity. Now 90% of our reading is done on Kindle.
I also don't have high ceilings, wooden/sash windows, bi fold doors or an island in the kitchen.

Yep I have loads of bookshelves crammed with books. Always have done ever since I can remember and everyone I know has.

No way. Would never ever use kindle and I LOVE collecting books. I am 34.

Someone i know was having a very hard time years ago with small children and a husband who worked away

she spoke to her church and they sent some people round to chat to her and they told her that her fantasy books were the problem and she ditched them all

i have a feeling they burned them but i may have made that part up 🤔