January 17, 2011

RE-POST :: Clip-on Book Supports

I've had a number of requests for the information I posted (buried in a Daybook post -- sorry!) on these amazing clip on book supports so I thought I'd just repost the information in a post all it's own so it can be searched and found more easily!  Hope this helps!


CLIP ON BOOK SUPPORTS

I TOTALLY organized all of our liturgical reading and put those on shelves in our learning room -- labeled :) by month. I've made small labels for their spines which denote a particular century or setting for the book, but I haven't yet affixed them.  This will be helpful because the older children read these coordinated with history studies as well.  I can't tell you how ridiculously FABULOUS this liturgical literature organization is!!! And the clip on book supports I ordered to help me with this project are so fantastic! I must order more when the budget allows!
Pros -- clip on, enough room for a label, easily repositionable, visually pleasing, if you're organizing a collection of books and only want to remove one small group from the collection at a time to place in a book basket, the book supports continue to hold the remaining books in place. LOVE THIS!

Cons -- they do take up valuable shelf real estate! Each shelf clip is 1 1/2 inches wide. You'll have to decide if it's worth it to lose that much shelf space. It's a definite con when shelf space is at a premium, but for this book grouping it was worth it for me. I will probably only use a few more on my shelves, but with a lot less frequency.

Do you want to see a picture? Of course you do - I would! :)



Hope this re-post was a help!  I wanted to add that I found an idea in The Family Handyman magazine just this weekend that addressed this same issue - a standing, slide-over the shelf book support that you could DIY out of wood.  It was definitely added to my future project list!  I wish I could find the project online, but alas, I can't.  It was in the most recent issue of the magazine (which I saw at my Mom's house).  She picked up her copy at Lowe's, and I hope to grab a copy for myself this week, so if I find out more specifics on the issue I'll come back and link!

Have a great Monday everyone!

Edited to add more information about The Family Handyman magazine:
I did indeed find a copy of this magazine at my local Lowe's Hardware store.  I took a couple of pictures for you so you can see the cover of the magazine (which has some great ideas in it, by the way!!!), as well as a picture of the small blurb about the sliding wooden bookend.  The magazine will be on the stands through 3/28/2011.  Hope this helps everyone!

click on the images to enlarge.

 

I wanted to add one observation about the sliding wooden bookend pictured.  I think it could hold a lighter collection of paperbacks or even a collection of CD's, but unless you substantially increased the width and height, I don't think it would adequately support taller, weightier books.  In thinking about this bookend, I can see how the slight tension afforded by the plastic arm that clips underneath the shelf is really quite helpful in keeping books stable and upright...even with a long line of books.  I took a few more pictures to illustrate this:



Alright...I'm done going on and on about plastic clip-on bookshelf supports!!  LOL!  I sure hope this was helpful!

15 notes:

Kelly said...

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!

Robina said...

I don't even no how to tell you how happy I ma to have seen this. Thank you. This si so incredibly perfect. I just ahve one question though. We have built-ins that I ahd painted white and paint can chip off some if you scratch it. Do these scratch the bookcase or put a lot of pressure when you put them on or take them off. Thank you again. I can't wait to hopefully share a picture of my new and organize bookshelf.

Robina said...

Sorry for so many typos. I was in a hurry.

jenmack said...

Kelly,
You're so welcome! I've been meaning to do this for some time! So thank you for the motivation to finally pull this post out and get it up here on its own!

Robina,
Your built ins sound so nice! If they've been painted and you find them chipping, it could be that they just need a bit more time to "cure". The clip on supports shouldn't be a problem. If you can set a regular plastic book-end on the shelf and slide it left and right without scratching paint, then the book shelf supports should be fine.

Hope that helps! :)

Elizabeth said...

Those are great! Nice job on your book shelves, they look amazing.
Peace,
Elizabeth

Jennifer Gregory Miller said...

Thanks, Jen, for the tip about the magazine. Hoping to get to Lowe's very soon to check that out!

jenmack said...

I'm so glad this re-post was helpful! I added a good bit of information and more pictures to the end of this post. Just wanted to mention it here in case you might be subscribed to the comment feed.

Erin said...

Thanks for the wooden bookend pic:) I get it now. and I loved seeing a closer up of your plastic ones too. Oh a girl can dream:)

Lisa in CO, USA said...

So helpful! I have been wanting these for a while. I am going to try to organize a group order for my homeschool group to save on the shippping, so I linked your blog to my plea. Thanks a lot for all the pictures!

Josette said...

Thanks for the more in depth pictures!

Amy @ simply necessary said...

Oh Jen, these are what I've been looking for! Have them bookmarked under my wish list of homeschooling items for 2011. I've been using Aldi's boxes (which work pretty well, actually) but needed something for my smaller collections and much bigger collections then will fit in these. May I ask your permission to copy a photo of it to put in my future organizational file on my computer? Thanks so much for the inspiration. Now I am inspired to organize the Learning Room!!!

jenmack said...

Sure, Amy! You can include pictures from this post for your personal files! Glad the post was a help!

Tina said...

Jen, can you come organize MY home now? Utah's beautiful in spring! ;o)

Elisa said...

Awesome! We keep our children's books (the tall picture books) on the bottom shelf, and they keep falling off! I'm SO ordering some of these. I should have known to just ask you about them!

Amber said...

Just thought I'd mention that I found some of these at Highsmith - http://www.highsmith.com/Clip45On-Book-Support-6-12quotHnbspxnbsp1-14quotWnbspxnbsp6-12quotD-c_21709240/

It looks very similar, if not the same and they have $5 shipping.

Can you tell I've had enough of trying to madly catch my books before they fall off the shelf?? :-)

Amber