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I also turned to e-books as a solution to the bookshelf-creep that was taking over my house/life. I gave away lots of books, took some to the used bookstore, and selected and documented my favorites to shelve or store. However, I am extremely farsighted and had to add progressive lenses before I turned 40. These days, when I open up a most paperback books I can feel the eyestrain almost immediately. It's orders of magnitude more comfortable to be able to adjust the font size on my e-reader.
At this point, I think I need to do another, more aggressive cull and just keep the ones I can't get as e-books, or that my kids might enjoy (they have perfect vision and enjoy both formats). I've actually purchased a lot of e-books of books that I already have on the shelf, in anticipation of this step.
That said, I still buy lots of hardback and paperback books for my kids - especially large-format picture books for my youngest. I don't think I could ever feel like a digital version was an adequate replacement. I love poring over the same pictures with them and sharing the same reading experiences that I loved 30-40 years ago. I do increasingly resist buying printed books for my oldest, not least because she devours them in no time and they pile up even faster.
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