As I have finished the last bits of the record shelving I started to build on Labor Day Weekend, I thought I’d show you what the Nogglestead record library looks like after a decade’s worth of book sales and visits to the antique malls ostensibly for “Christmas shopping” but in the “one for you, one for me” mindset.
In the living room, we have lifted the console stereo that I just “repaired” onto the long shelf and the two little emergency wings which I had to add when I discovered right after Labor Day that the shelf was not deep enough to hold the stereo. So I added a couple of little pieces to place along the sides–the console stereo rests on a single “leg” which is a crescent along the front and sides. The back is about a half inch above where the weight rests, so I only had to build for the sides:
I’ve moved the boxed sets except for the Beethoven collection to those shelves, and I moved all the Christmas records onto the shelf (to the right). The little bookshelf to the right has the Beethoven set (not complete, unfortunately) and some miscellany.
In the parlor, the long shelves beside the desk hold most of the collection:
You can see the gap at the back where the Christmas records were. The boxed sets had been stacked in rows in a giant column next to the shelves in the corner. You can see on the desk the albums I recently bought, which I will listen to once before putting in mylar and onto shelves. Beneath the desk you can see the two boxes of records we got from my mother-in-law’s downsizing; we have room for them now, and some room for maybe…. Organizing the records? Someday.
When my beautiful wife took an office for her business downtown, she took a shelf full of CDs with her, which left this wall bare, so I built some shorter shelves:
My wife’s mother’s former records will go here when we unbox them together. I should have enough record sleeves for them. And with that, all of our record library will be shelved finally.
And you are not mistaken, eagle-eyed reader; when my wife gave up her office in town–a nonprofit with which she works has space across the street from her former office where she can work while in town–so she brought the CD tower back, and it’s now in the foyer. Which is an odd place for it as we never (hardly ever) play CDs upstairs even though we have a 100-disc CD changer from back when that was a very big deal. Come to think of it, we hardly ever play CDs at all unless they have audio courses on them.
But records? Aw, yeah, you know we’re hipsters.
How many records is that? you might wonder. To be honest, I don’t even know. I’d have to go back and count my orders for 100-packs of sleeves and then guess from there. A thousand? Fifteen hundred? I honestly don’t know. Ask me again sometime if we get them organized and in a database. But the real question is: Do we have more copies of Perry Como Sings Merry Christmas Music or Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Whipped Cream and Other Delights? I am not sure–we probably have four or more of each–but probably the former which we will get to listen to soon.
