How do you make a bookshelf look less cluttered?

 My bookshelves will always need a dedicated effort to keep them looking less cluttered.

I have bookcases, six of them.

• My kitchen ones look the best since they are shallow (on purpose.)
• There is only one layer of books grouped by the publisher, cooking method, or size.
• I have gifted thousand of books to others over the years, and I am not kidding.
• Remember, I have four additional bookcases. I love books. Letting some of the older books go has become more comfortable since I now have a Kindle Fire.

Now, for the hard part.

• Get a few boxes that will be leaving your house, no you are not putting the books into storage, the boxes will not just sit around in your home.
• Set up a table for sorting.
• Go through the books.
• Remove the ones no longer relevant to your current lifestyle.
• Remove the books that you read and didn’t like.
• Remove the ones for which you have newer, more relevant, current information concerning the subject.
• Remove duplicates.

You have completed your sorting process.

• Arrange the books by subject matter.
• You can add matching labeled covers.
• Place the books on the shelves.
• Pull them all a certain distance from the front edge of the shelf.
• Use bookends to keep the books neat.
• Add a few decorative items to the shelves if you have made room for them.

Or if all your books fit on the bookshelves and you don’t want to do additional purging or organizing, hide the books behind fitted shelf inserts, shades, blinds, or opaque doors.