Boy Bookcases?
Today’s blog is probably going to end up being more of a rant than a blog. I have recently been on the hunt for a bookcase for my son’s room. He has had a large red bin holding books in his room for over a year now. The bin is ok for housing the actual books, but it’s hard to sort through them and the ones on the bottom always end up staying on the bottom. About 3 months ago I started a serious search for boy bookcases and much to my surprise, realized they are a little hard to find!
To give you the full picture, I have 3 kids. My oldest is 12 and is an avid reading-for-pleasure kind of girl. She always has a few books running at a time and reads each night before she goes to bed just because she can. She has a giant white bookcase I bought at Target when she was 2 and it is full from top to bottom of her favorite books. It has made it through multiple moves and been restocked several times. (She is currently nestled in her cocoon reading and refused to let me post a picture of this bookcase.)
My second and third children are twins. I moved them into their own rooms last year which included separating books they have shared since birth. (They are now 3.11 months, but who is counting?) When the “Big Boy & Girl” rooms were created, it was a big deal for everyone and I wanted to make sure I honored the night-time routines including reading. It was important to me that each room had books.
My youngest daughter, Bossy Boots, inherited the white bookcase I originally painted for the nursery. (It’s really white- not banana yellow…I promise.)
Well-used by Bossy Boots
and my son, Mr. Friendly, got the big red bin.
Clearly inferior to the white bookcase...
I probably don’t need to make an argument as to why I am shopping for a bookcase after posting the pictures, but it is obviously time for Mr. Friendly to get an upgraded bookcase with real shelves and a super-cool boy lamp.
They are really hard to find! I have found plenty of princess bookcases, castle bookcases, plastic, pressed pretend wood bookcases and lots of pink bookcases. The real wood bookcases that are dark or would blend nicely in a boy’s room are actually office furniture or some other type of furniture you could “use” as a bookcase.
The most upsetting thing about this bookcase business is NOT that I cannot find one. (I think I am going to have a simple one made by a high-school shop student because that is how I got the white one.)
No, the really disturbing piece is that I have started to wonder if I cannot find the boy bookcase because we are not putting books in boys rooms?!? Is this a conspiracy? I think stores generally will stock what sells. The absences of these bookcases in the presence of princess bookcases is bothersome.
What do you think? Are we not putting books in boy rooms and that’s why there are not bookcases for sale OR are we not putting books in boy rooms because we cannot find a bookcase?!?