Here are two more possible spots in the dining room.

That would be fine - take advantage of your vertical space (go up)! Measure twice, buy once! You have the great scenic picture to break the space up and give it some three dimensional qualities. Are you taking advantage of your vertical space in other areas of your house?

The living room has two tall shelves already, and it took a while to figure out where to put them without eliminating seating. Our living room is long and skinny with very little wall space.

We could possibly fit a taller one here if we cut out the back for the light switch.

Here are google search results for "piano between bookcases"

https://www.google.com/search?q=piano+between+bookcases&rlz=1C1GCEB_enUS884US884&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwisop2gq4TzAhXkQjABHRJCBGkQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1600&bih=722&dpr=1.2

Based on the images, it looks best when the bookcases are built-in (or have a built-in look) and go up to the ceiling.

@Elaine Doremus Resumes Written Would taller shelves dwarf the piano too much and box everything in?

We could possibly put one on either side of this doorway instead, though it would cramp the space at the end of the table a bit.

What if you just added a few wall shelves above the existing bookcases? Just get some pretty bookends to keep the books from falling over. Would be functional without adding too much density to the space.

There's more room on either side of the piano, so I would put it there.

@RTHawk That's what I was afraid of. Those all look terrible. The room is rather cramped as it is, and the piano is small. Sadly built ins are not an option, and seven feet tall is the tallest we can fit in our vehicle. This isn't even half of our books though, so we'll have to figure something out. Thanks! I should have thought to Google that myself.

Another thing is that the one shelf is pretty close to the doorway. Hard to tell from pictures.

I wonder if a larger shelf there would block up the doorway too much.

This picture needs to be raised about 6 to 8 inches higher than where it is. Have you considered putting shelves on the walls such that you completely cover the wall leading from the dining room to the living room? If you install each shelf independently using wall brackets, you could achieve a built in look and still be within bounds of your vehicle.

@periksencat The picture needs to be hung. I hate having it (or anything) on the piano. We haven't hung it yet because we are still unsure where all the furniture will end up.

I hadn't thought of hanging shelving on the wall but that's a great idea. I love the look of built ins, but I can't do it myself, so that's a good alternative. Would you do it over the doorway as well despite the arch?

If the taller bookcases on either side od the piano were not quite so densely filled i think theyd look less cramped than the current situation.

A friend of ours has a ton of books and she actuallu buil bookcases all aronud a doorway I mean like to the ceiling but all the way around so maybe that arcehd doorway could be done like she did the casese went right up to the ceiling and she just had a ladder leaned against a wall for access. It kind of was amazing to see , hers was in her entry hall but I think it might work for you too.Kind of like this but all the way down the entry hall and up to her high ceiling

@lisaam Pretty sure any bookcases we have will be densely filled. :) We have many more books than this still packed away. These days I only collect electronic books for myself so that simplifies things. Even so, I have nearly 10,000 books in my electronic library.

@Patricia Colwell Consultingc That sounds amazing. Maybe someday we'll have a library/music room, but for now we're just trying to fit everything in as best we can. Sadly most of these have been in storage since we got married because we've been in small apartments up until now. Built ins would be great, but we don't plan to stay here long term; I don't know that others would appreciate that in an already small dining room. That could possibly work in the spare room upstairs, though.

My father in law seemed to carry a new book into the house on most trips. he built a full wall of shelving in one room and that can be a good answer. we built wide hallways to accomodate bookshelves.

@lisaam That sounds like the house I grew up in; my dad built bookshelves in nearly every room. He even built them in such a way as to accommodate all the sloping floors in the nearly 250 year old house.

Not totally sure a bookshelf would fit here well. Seems a little cramped for anyone sitting at that end of the table, and we do have a lot of company. It's about two feet and four inches from the wall to the table.

@Yvonne Martin We actually purged before the books were packed, and again as we've unpacked things. What you see is some of what we plan to keep. We don't have many belongings, but books are important to us. I can't easily read most print books anymore, and have a large electronic library, but we still want physical copies for when we're schooling our children (don't want them on devices). Even as it is we don't own all the books we ought to have. I read at least one or two books a week, and I expect our children to read a lot as well.

We do actually have some built in shelving on the third floor where we have books our kids aren't old enough for yet and books in braille since they are so bulky. There's room in our bedroom for a shelf, which would be a good place for fiction and children's books, and there's one in the spare room which is reference, curriculum, and old music books. The hallway is too narrow for shelves.

Thanks everyone for the input. I guess the verdict is that tall shelves around the piano wouldn't be great. Now I just have to figure out where to put them instead. I have one that will match the two in the living room that I just finished sanding. It'll soon be ready if I can find a place for it.

The only places I can come up with are here in place of the small one and cut out the light switch. It's a small space because of the protruding stairs, so it may look cramped.

Or, here in the dining room.

Do you have room to float the piano somewhere?

Maybe cull through the books first?? Moving my mother to an apartment meant dealing withover 350 hardcover books, she cried, but then realized she did not ever intend to read any oof them a second time and I convinced she would be able to share her joy of reading with others by donating. Took some time, but was necessary. Do you have any books that could bring joy to others?

@Fori There really isn't a better spot for the piano, unfortunately. It needs to be on an inside wall away from radiators, doors, and windows. This house was designed oddly, with very little useable wall space, and this is the only spot that fits the bill.

@Valinta I suppose if we were older and didn't have small children we might store or give away many of our books. As it is we want resources for them to read for fun and for our homeschool eventually. I guess we have more books than most people, but this is really nothing compared to what I grew up with.

If our living room was not so long and narrow I'd love to float the sofa and have shelves along the wall.

Well, don't purge the books. That doesn't work at ALL.

Don't be shy about having things delivered or renting a U-haul if it gets you taller. Special order if you can. Your books are going to need housing at your next home too so it's worth splurging a bit. (Don't forget to nail those to the wall once you get settled on locations. Or go upscale and use actual anti-tip hardware.:P )

I could see a tall wrap-around corner unit by the piano--you'd forgo symmetry and perhaps move the piano a foot or two closer to the kitchen door to make it a bigger space.

But the piano can stand up to having tall bookcases on either side because it's got the painting to make it taller; think of them as a single unit. You could even--if there's space between piano and table--do full height bookcases across the entire piano wall and simply block a section of bookcases with the piano.

Without measurements or a floorplan, I'm afraid we're all pretty helpless.

(People tend to think that a vertical piano has to be against a wall. It doesn't. But you'd still need a place where it wasn't blocking traffic and you probably don't have that. But it's something to think about.)

@mdln We could fit a lot of books that way, but those all look crowded to me.

@Fori We buy everything used so getting things delivered isn't usually an option. Not sure I could convince my wife to drive a u-haul either. :) Wherever we settle down for good we'll probably choose built in bookshelves. A wrap around corner shelf by the piano is a great idea. That wouldn't be in the way at all and would make better use of the space. I like that.

I'll post a floor plan with measurements this evening. This is really the only place the piano would fit, and the rooms are too small to float either the sofa (we tried) or piano. I need it on a wall because I need the outlet for humidity control and for my music set up, which is a bit complicated to explain.

Ha. yes...understood. I've been tripping over mics and PCs around our piano since...early pandemic. Not tripping over the humidity control/lamp cords because there's not enough room to go back there comfortably.

Now the question is: have you utilized the kitchen fully?

Two tall bookshelves in the corner to the left of the piano?? Mine overlap a bit due to the minimal space I have to work with, but I can still reach everything.
I love, love, love all your books!!

@ericalynn523 Thanks! I really love the corner shelf idea. That would be a great use of space without overshadowing the piano or blocking the doorway.

Living room:

Dining room:

@Fori The kitchen is actually the largest room. Not the best use of space. Whoever designed this house didn't do a great job. I'm not sure we would want bookshelves in the kitchen though. :)

I feel like if you just paint them whatever the wallcolor is, you can put them wherever they fit, you could just get something basic and unfinished.