Comfortable and stylish furniture
If you take some photo of a bookcase as a basis, you can creatively develop the design idea embedded in it, enriching and diversifying it with many useful and beautiful transformations.
Custom-made glass bookcases can provide complete security for your home library while giving your office or living room a modern, elegant look.
Recommendations for small living rooms
For small spaces, designers specially design compact corner models, comfortable display cases on legs: along with books, they store dishes, figurines, decorative items, and other beautiful, useful things. Narrow pencil cases are suitable for storing small collections of books and magazines; they occupy a minimum of space, fitting perfectly into a modern interior due to their functionality and versatility.
Inconspicuous bookcases painted the same tone as the walls and wallpaper will help make the room visually more spacious. They literally blend into the surroundings, even if the shade chosen is bright and saturated. White shelving looks airy, almost weightless, and the glass doors are almost invisible; in addition, they have a mirror effect, partially reflecting the light, visually giving the room volume.
Arched structures are gaining popularity in modern interiors. We are talking about cabinets fixed at the top and on both sides of door or window openings. This technique is a great space saver, allowing you to make the most of the free wall space for your home library. Racks are fixed not only above or around windows, but also under the window sill, at the bottom of the walls, on window slopes. At the same time, the window sill itself and the top of the cabinets can be used as a cozy reading corner and additional seating.
Mobile bookcases
This category will fit perfectly into the interior of a modern living room, where the practicality of furniture is especially valued. Such cabinets are equipped with wheels; they can be easily rolled out and pushed back into place. A complex structure of several cabinets will serve as a partition if necessary. In this case, you do not have to move all the cabinets to get the book you need.
Practical accessories
If you decide to install a large, modern, ceiling-height bookcase, be sure to provide access to its top shelves. Of course, you can use an ordinary stepladder, but a special ladder moving along guides along the shelves will look much more beautiful in the living room interior.
Built-in LED lighting will help you quickly find the desired publication in the closet at night, without turning on the overhead light. In addition, the illumination of display cases with glass doors itself creates an original light scenario, giving the living room interior a magical and at the same time cozy atmosphere.
When choosing a bookcase that suits the modern style of the living room, pay attention to combined storage systems. In the classical interpretation, this could be a wooden cabinet with glass doors on the upper module and completely closed drawers at the bottom. Modern modular systems for living rooms combine corner and linear shelving, models with different types of doors, mirrored and glass doors, colored cabinets and traditional wood-look options, closed and open shelves and cabinets. A cabinet and space for a television panel, computer desks, and other elements are often integrated into such a system. One of the favorite design techniques for small living rooms and studio apartments is a folding bed, disguised as part of a bookcase or hidden in a podium on which there is a work area surrounded by bookcases.
Design design and strength calculation
The most important requirements for modern furnishings are practicality, versatility, and stylistic compatibility with the existing interior. They must be taken into account when deciding where the bookcase with glass doors will be located, what its outline and technical parameters will be.
A careful accounting of the number of books available, an assessment of their sizes, weighing the heaviest copies and an approximate calculation of the strength of shelves capable of supporting a dozen large and small volumes will help to give the correct answers to these questions.
Types of bookcases
Based on their appearance, cabinets are divided into two categories:
- Open: These include bookshelves;
- Closed: These include cabinets with doors.
Bookcase doors are made of wood or glass. Glass can be transparent or opaque. The choice depends on the buyer’s desire to see bookshelves. Any opaque doors can hide clutter, but transparent doors allow you to see the contents at a glance.
When choosing a cabinet with glass doors, you should definitely pay close attention to the quality of the glass, especially if there are small children in the house. There are combined options where the door consists of glass and wood at the same time.
There are linear cabinets that are easy to install and can be placed separately from the rest of the furniture. Most often they reach the ceiling, making them convenient to place in the corridor. It is commonly believed that shelving is placed along the walls, but this is not true; they can be placed anywhere in the room.
Modern designers often use them as partitions or interior elements. Wall cabinets are classified as linear. The most capacious bookcase is a sliding wardrobe. It is installed both along the wall and built into niches.
The corner cabinet is popular for buyers who want to save space in the room and at the same time place a large number of books. A modular cabinet is divided into elements that can be placed in different parts of the room or around an object, such as a TV.
Testing and fine-tuning
The initial stage of manufacturing functional furniture is drawing up a project. Experienced designers use a wide range of technologies, tools and tools, including detailed drawings, scale models, prototypes, special software and three-dimensional computer modeling.
It is not surprising that, for example, an IKEA bookcase ends up in high demand in various parts of the world.
Types and rules for choosing a bookcase
Types of structures
First of all, when choosing furniture, it is worth considering that such cabinets can be modular, cabinet or built-in. They are also divided into horizontal and vertical.
The most popular option is a cabinet bookcase. This option has quite a lot of functionality. This type of furniture looks standard for a home library.
Built-in modules are rare; they almost always have sliding or folding doors. In some cases, this option does not have a bottom and top cover. Shelves and other elements are attached directly to the walls of the room.
Modular cabinets are quite varied. Modules can be installed in any convenient order, creating storage systems with different heights and configurations.
When selecting furniture, you should pay attention to the material from which the frame is made. Let's list the main options.
- Solid wood. This is one of the most standard and familiar options. Such modules look very beautiful and expensive. They really cost a lot, although this is compensated by performance characteristics.
- MDF. A good analogue of wood. But it costs much less than solid wood, and its characteristics are not inferior to natural material.
- Chipboard. The cheapest furniture is made from this material. Such cabinets do not last long and quickly deform under load.
Expensive and exclusive bookcases are made from expensive wood species such as oak, cherry and others. They allow you to create a classic interior that amazes with luxury.
Bookcases come in the following shapes:
- rectangular;
- corner;
- racks;
- rounded.
Facades
An important element of any such furniture is the facade. It can be open or closed. An open bookcase gives free access to books, and decorative items are often placed here. Such a module is usually small, which makes it possible to fit into any room. Such models also have a number of disadvantages. In particular, books are not protected from dust and are exposed to sunlight. This leads to the need to devote more time to caring for books.
The closed type of the facade allows you to protect books from many negative environmental influences. At the same time, you need to take into account that such furniture has a bulky appearance, which may be unsuitable for some interiors. It is important to consider that there are the following types of door openings:
- sashes (hinged);
- sliding (compartment).
Doors are made of frames or glass. In the first case, the basis of the sash is the frame, which is supplemented with plastic, wood board, and plexiglass. The following materials are used for the frame.
- MDF. Must be complemented by finishing made of PVC film or veneer.
- Aluminum. It is finished to imitate natural wood or precious metals.
The doors are also made entirely of tempered glass. The inside must be glued with a special film, this protects the sash from falling apart in the event of an impact. Sometimes the glass is made frosted. In general, the glass bookcase looks smaller than its counterparts, which is good for rooms where the size does not allow the use of bulky furniture.
Filling
The main content for such furniture are shelves of different heights. Shelves are usually placed in one, but sometimes in two rows.
When choosing furniture according to the storage system, it is worth considering what features your home library has. In particular, we look at the size of books. For a regular format, the shelf should be 15–25 cm deep. If the books have a larger format, you should choose shelves with a depth of 30–35 cm.
When purchasing a cabinet with a closed front, be sure to monitor the presence of ventilation holes. It is not recommended to store books in a completely sealed cabinet, as this may adversely affect their safety.
To choose the right bookcase, you should also take into account the thickness of the shelf. To prevent it from bending under load, the minimum thickness should be 2.5 cm. The length of the shelf does not exceed 1 meter.
Types of designs
A corner bookcase made using the latest technologies is distinguished by increased functionality, versatility, and full compliance with modern concepts of elegance and style. It is ideal for displaying souvenirs, photographs, models of equipment, commemorative postcards, homemade toys, puzzles and sea shells.
Depending on the chosen style, geometric solution, and technical characteristics, such library cabinets are divided into open and closed, collapsible and non-dismountable.
Rules for placing a bookcase
Depending on the number of books, the size of the cabinet is selected. After this, you need to determine a suitable location for its installation. It is not recommended to place the closet in children's rooms and bedrooms, because books quickly accumulate dust, which can cause allergies.
Premises recommended for placing bookcases:
- The office is the most canonical place for placement; since ancient times, libraries and bookcases have been placed in the offices of houses;
- The living room is the most popular place for placement, since all family members have access to this room;
- The corridor is the most convenient place for placement if the living area is not large and the closet needs to be placed ergonomically.
Components of some modules
A solid wood cabinet consists of a number of standard modules, including supports, frame, doors, and drawers.
The load-bearing part of the book furniture determines what shape it will be, how long it will last and what volume it will have. The basic elements of book furniture are all its walls, including the back, as well as the facade. The frame is formed by the intersections of boards, iron stiffening profiles, reinforcing struts and supporting internal posts.
Decorate the space around the TV
By far the most enjoyable part is decorating! This is the living room where cozy evenings will be spent (once I finally stop occupying the sofa), where guests will come, this wall is the central area that will be the first to be noticed. Therefore, my proposal was to use this space as a display, where the exposition would change depending on the time of year and holiday. We immediately started decorating for the new year, but the design will be very easy to change later.
Above the TV we hung three square frames (30 by 30 cm, the cheapest from IKEA, so that later they could be painted a different color if necessary and, if desired, thrown away without regret). We placed red, white and gray Christmas posters in beautiful mats (we bought the designs here).
I really love garlands and banners, so I came up with the idea of placing transparent hooks in the corners in order to hang a luminous garland for the New Year or a banner with the inscription “Happy Birthday” when there is an occasion. My advice is to completely follow the instructions on how to attach the hooks and then everything will stick perfectly. Waking up in the middle of the night from the roar of a fallen garland is not great, but all because I thought: “Oh, come on, who needs these instructions!”
The TV stand has enough space for all sorts of beautiful things like candles, photo frames and beautiful figurines. My sister and I have been discussing for a long time the usefulness and multi-functionality of thick candle holders because they can be used as mini displays (for example, placing pumpkins on them in the fall will make great fall decor). Here's what's happened so far.
Is everything perfect now? Not at all. My sister is going to change the color scheme of the decor to match the overall color palette of the living room (purple, fuchsia and turquoise), the photo frames need to be updated, you can play with the way the books are arranged to create more dynamics, or even mess with the covers of the books (although we are unlikely to be ready for such feats. But my motto is better done than perfect. Agree, the “before” and “after” photos speak for themselves, and we are terribly happy with it.
Design and types of racks
Book storage racks are usually rectangular in shape. Their main functional elements are horizontal boards, divided into sections by load-bearing posts.
Depending on the application, shelving can be built-in, floor-mounted or wall-mounted. There is also a simplified version of shelving furniture that looks like a bookcase. It is usually made low and equipped with square shelves.
Interesting Bookcase Design Ideas
Nowadays, the range on the furniture market is quite wide, and everyone can find for themselves not only a reliable, but also a stylish, extraordinary option. It is impossible not to mention the home bookcase, which resembles a staircase in its appearance. The model is functional, original and will fit into almost any interior, becoming its central element. It will not only help in organizing a place to place and store books, but will also decorate any room.
Manufacturers almost always equip staircase-style cabinets with functional lighting. Firstly, it will redirect the visitor's attention to the most valuable and rare items on the shelves. Secondly, soft light will create a homely atmosphere in the room. If you want to add even more charm to your design, choose models with LED lights. With their help you can avoid heating the surface of books.
A home bookcase with corner shelves will also be a fashionable solution. Models come with both classic straight shapes and smooth, beautiful lines. Typically, shelving is located at the edges of the structure. Books with the brightest and most attractive bindings, magazines with interesting covers are often placed on them.
A good option would be shelves for books that are placed at different angles that are not direct to each other or to the floor surface. It looks chaotic, but at the same time creative. You can pay attention to models with alternating types of shelves, where after the open structure there is a closed one.
Bookcases in the shape of a honeycomb look interesting. To make them look like real ones, they are sometimes made in warm colors with a yellowish tint. Designers recommend taking a closer look at shelving with inclined walls. The shelves seemed to have shifted due to a gust of wind. Furniture that resembles a piano will look unusual. It will fit into a classic interior and help it sparkle with new colors.
Methodology for selecting materials
Light wood is typically used to make bookcases and shelving. Housings and support posts are most often made from chipboard and fiberboard. The facing components of book furniture are made of veneer, polymers, and metal.
Since the façade of such furniture is designed to add an element of grace and high aesthetics to the decor, it is usually made from valuable, expensive and elite wood.
We recommend reading:
- Wenge-colored wardrobe in a modern interior: 100 photos of beautiful design and proper placement
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- Black wardrobe: a review of bold decisions on choosing and combining dark furniture in a modern interior (95 photos)
Material selection
An important point in choosing a bookcase is considered to be the material from which the bookcase is made.
The most durable and high-quality material for making a bookcase is wood. The higher quality the wood, the more expensive the piece of furniture will be.
The highest quality and most expensive bookcases are made from solid wood.
- Although wood is considered the most environmentally friendly material, the cabinet can be made from MDF and chipboard.
- Modern manufacturing technologies have made it possible to achieve high quality of these materials.
- Therefore, today bookcases are presented in lines of different price categories that everyone can afford.
If the style of your home is determined, and you have chosen the desired type of cabinet and material, you can safely begin to choose. First, it is recommended to select a suitable bookcase or shelving from the website catalog.
Be sure to contact consultants if you have any questions, because a bookcase is purchased for many years to come and it is worth paying the due amount of time and attention to its selection.
Buying the right cabinet will complement the interior, bring pleasure and indicate the good taste of the owner. Choose and consult with consultants, buy and enjoy reading and storing books!
Choice of colors
At the same time, the facade elements are processed so that they create not only a style, but also a color ensemble with other modules. For example, a white cabinet will most likely have a front made of pine, linden, white birch, oak or ash, painted white, beige, light pink, bright turquoise or pearlescent.
Choosing a place for a bookcase
Before choosing which bookcase you need, let’s think about where exactly it will be located in your apartment, whether it will be a single-standing bookcase or a whole library is needed.
Important! Do not forget that books, due to the dust that accumulates in them, can cause allergies. That is why its installation in a bedroom or nursery is undesirable.
Suitable rooms for bookcases:
- study. Bookcases and a library for your home will increase your status in the eyes of everyone who enters your office, but most importantly, they will create conditions for productive work;
- living room. Cabinets with your favorite books will not only give the impression of a cozy and lived-in room, but will also make it look so in reality;
- corridor. Often perceived as an auxiliary room, the corridor can be a place to place a convenient bookcase along the wall.
Types of additional decor
To emphasize the chosen style, custom-made cabinets from the manufacturer are equipped with handles, hinges and plugs, designed in the same artistic manner as the facade, shelves, and sides.
An additional aesthetic effect, at the request of the customer, is achieved by using three-dimensional wood carving, applying mosaics to glass surfaces, and using high decorative strips covering the joints of sections.
Bookcases in the interior - photo
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A bookcase is an essential attribute in the apartments of true book lovers. Modern models not only allow you to organize ideal conditions for storing printed publications, but are also designed to become a real decoration of the interior.
