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?

I don't have shelves of books. I read at least 3 books a week though.

If you use TikTok you'll see many booktokkers in their twenties with large book collections. Definitely not just for 80 year olds.

Book wars!!!M!!11!!! Peak MN.

I recognise Beata Heuman's sitting room with the books over doorway look. I also love the Parisian sitting room with the bookcases behind the sofa.

I love tiktok but the algorithm gets you I think im a million miles away from booktok

Do people really not own books? I can’t imagine my house without bookshelves in several rooms.

I find it odd not to want books around. Or nor being a readers. Even if you use an electronic reader you still have actual books.

DD (23) prefers to read books. DH and I prefer to use our kindles. In his case it's because he can increase the font size and read without needing to use reading glasses, and in my case so that I can read in bed at night without keeping DH awake.

The Times on Saturdays even has a column about books that the columnists have reread, it's very interesting reading about what they get from it years or decades later.

I have book shelves, not to the extent of those in the OPs photo.

The only books I have in my home currently are children's books any books iv read in the past have been passed on or donated

That is such an odd comment.

Books are education, escape, and so much more. All my friends have books.

Is your house grey with mirror furniture and a huge television by any chance? 🤔

Yes 🙈🤣🤣🤣🤣

We only buy non fiction books now - kindle and audible for fiction. I really don’t want to store hundreds of novels around my house - they are not things of beauty and are rarely re-read. I knew a man once who used to buy loads of novels in charity shops and displayed them around his house to impress women.😂

What a weird thread, OP seems obsessed with bookshelves and books.

Ps I say this as someone with a massive bookcase but brought up in a home without one - indeed without books except a few of mine - until I bought a cheap Argos one as a teenager who somehow learned to love reading.

It didn't start this way but where 32 pages in and it took a turn 🤣🤣

Did it work?

We didn't have bookcases/shelves when I was growing up and neither did any of my extended family but we all used the library so were all readers.

We have hundreds of books on various shelves and have given away at least the same number, if not more. I love our bookshelves, they’re only IKEA ones but have glass doors with shelf lighting which helps them look less cluttered (and does away with the need for regular dusting). Many of them are collections and will be passed down through the family. We also have a few books which are around 100 or so years old, so passed to us.

Personally I think those photos are beautiful, they’re warm, creative, inspiring. I don’t think they look cluttered or particularly like an older person’s house. Conversely I find the grey walls, thick new carpet (usually grey) and everything matching to be very cold and characterless.

Each to their own.

We are moving soon and I am doing exactly this. I am so excited about this.

Books are education, escape, and so much more.

I agree.
I honestly believe that books changed the course of my life.
I was born to young teenage parents and grew up on one of the most deprived estates in the uk. We were very poor and school was behaviour management not education.

Books were my escape, they allowed me to see that there were other ways of living, allowed me to experience other cultures and accumulate cultural capital which helped me get to university which changed my life.

Most mass-market/IKEA bookcases are far deeper than necessary. I've struggled to find anyone to do it for a decent price but I'd like a conventional bookcase like the one below which has three sets of shelves, but with two similar sets of shelves in front on runners, so I can get 2/3 more books without losing access.
Any suggestions gratefully received ... other than buying a dozen books on home joinery.

DP and I have over 1,000 books between us. We pared down doubles etc when we moved in together. I just love being surrounded by books, the smell of them, the different colours of the spines, it makes a house a home to me.

Our goal is to turn one bedroom into a library/office eventually. Kindle just doesn’t cut it for me. The reading experience isn’t as lovely.

@ZebraPensAreLife Yes it worked - the relationships didn’t last long - but that might have some to do with his wig, the height inserts in his shoes, his gun and he all consuming insecurity but the books thing was golden.😁

I think everyone here knows that: you didn’t have to tell us 🤦🏼‍♀️