Bookshelf. I am a reader, a collector, a piler, a hoarder, a curator, a bibliophile. In my living room, there are three stuffed cases. In the spare room, a floor to ceiling built in along with a smaller one in the corner. In my office, there’s a smaller case and various piles. It looks like a mess, like chaos, but ask me where a specific book is and I could find it. It might look like madness but I have a method.
P.S. You can also see the feet of my four Holly Hobbie dolls on this shelf, one of the only toys I kept from when I was little. I had to hide them there because Ringo was convinced they were dog toys.
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 
Did you see this article, Jill?
http://elitedaily.com/money/entrepreneurship/psychology-behind-messy-rooms-messy-room-may-necessarily-bad-thing/708046/
You totally prove what the researcher discovered. I have books in every room, too, and couldn’t live without them. I see some similarities in our titles! 🙂
I did see that article. And don’t worry about suggesting my space might be a mess, it absolutely is controlled chaos, but that somehow feels much homier to me. 🙂
I’m not saying your house is that messy … just talking about what you mentioned about the piles.
I have SIX bookcases filled to the brim, as well as piles in other places! And you wouldn’t believe how many books I sold at Powell’s before I moved here! Now it’s getting a little scary because in no more than probably a couple of years I’m going to have to move again, most likely to low income senior housing. Do you what that means? Tiny!!! I know “Tiny Houses” is the new trend, so I’d be a trend follower, but I think I have to get my books down to no more than three (3!!!!) bookcases!! All the rest of my stuff I don’t really worry about selling/gifting/donating, but the books? Yikes!! I suppose I can “Kindle” a lot of them, but it’s not quite the same, ya know?
I know! I’ve been successful downsizing a lot, but the books are always a sticking point.
So glad you explained the Holly Hobbie feet! (I was wondering…) And books are my downsizing sticking point, too. I was looking at my biggest bookcase last night. I haven’t touched most of the books on it in the 3 years since we’ve moved here (when I did discard many). But, I still want them. They are like old friends.
That and quilts are the hardest things for me to get rid of. I also still have towels from 20 years ago (they are rags now). I’m asking for a Kindle for my birthday to see if that might help with the book situation. I actually got rid of 1/3 about 5 years ago, but there’s still a lot.