Bookshelves in modern interiors

Bookshelves: classification

Today they are sorted according to the following criteria:

1. Based on the material used.

2. By design.

3. Installation method.

The first option considers the correspondence of the shelf's texture to the overall stylistic design of the room. Shelves made of metal and glass will fit perfectly into office spaces, as well as minimalist settings.

Bookshelves made of metal and glass

But you can’t hang such beauty in the nursery anymore, because it will be unsafe. Here you will have to look for something from universal wooden structures, and when choosing, you will need to remember to harmonize the shelves with the color scheme of the main furniture and interior doors.

A bookshelf in a nursery can also serve a decorative function.

The second point will require you to carry out some analytical operations. So, you will need to calculate the current volume of your library and decide how great the need to purchase books will be in the future. This will be useful when calculating the number and capacity of shelves. You need to take into account:

1. Dimensions of folios. Grouping by format will greatly impact the visual experience.

2. The area of ​​the space where the structures are planned to be located.

3. Height of the room.

4. Shelf depth. If it is large, then lighting may be required.

Lighting is installed for deep bookshelves

And, naturally, bookshelves should be convenient to use, therefore, they need to be located in accessible places. They may well occupy the empty space under the stairs in two-story country houses.

Bookshelves under the stairs

But in a library or office they can be built up to the ceiling and equipped with a retractable stepladder, forming a single composition with the shelf system.

A mobile ladder will make it easier to access books

In small spaces, it makes sense to organize mobile storage for books. Equipping the shelf with wheels will not only allow you to rearrange it within one room, depending on the situation, but will also make it possible to generally move the entire structure to an adjacent room.

List of tools and materials for making a shelf

Tools for making a shelf:

• Pencil.
• Ruler.
• Square.
• Wood saw.
• Electric jigsaw.
• Lathe.
• Drilling machine .
• Oblique chisel.
• Semicircular chisel.
• Screwdriver.
• Plane.
• Brush.
• Grinder machine.
• Sanding paper.

Materials for making the shelf:

• Pine board.
• Pine block.
• Self-tapping screws.
• Wood glue.
• Suspensions.
• Varnish.
• Aspen lath.
• Criteria that the product must meet

The book shelf should be:

1. Beautiful.
2. Modern shape; should not spoil the overall appearance of the room.
3. Durable.
4. Sustainable.
5. Easy to make.
6. Cheap.
7. Convenient.
8. Natural wood color. The material for making the shelf must match the color, furniture and be combined with the interior of the room.

Specification and graphic documentation

Billing solutions

Traditionally, wood is used to make such furniture items. The material fits perfectly into both classic furnishings and ultra-modern decors.

Modern bookshelves made of wood and metal

In the latter case, an alternative to wood can be metal, plastic and glass. The most popular of these three are glass bookshelves. They are frequent guests of modern interiors. And this is not surprising, since glass is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also easy to maintain. The surface of such a shelf will be easy to remove dust. The structure is not afraid of moisture, so glass shelves will serve for a long time and faithfully.

Practical glass bookshelves

Plastic shelves are advantageous in terms of design, as they are often transformable. Sometimes it seems that their bizarre shapes are trying to defy the laws of gravity, but this does not prevent them from perfectly coping with their main functional task.

Textured plastic bookshelves

Shelves can have movable elements such as sliding or opening doors. In this case, you need to check the quality of the fasteners. Ideally, the hinges will be made of stainless steel.

Ergonomic pull-out bookshelves

The same applies to the rest of the fittings. Painted handles will not be aesthetically durable. Frequent touching will quickly damage the protective layer.

Materials for making shelves

Traditionally, wood is used to make modern bookcases. It fits well into classic and modern designs. But it can also be replaced with metal, plastic or glass. Glass shelves are considered the most popular. Not only do they look beautiful, they are also easy to wipe down and wash. The material is easy to care for and is not afraid of moisture.

Bookshelf made of wood, decorated to look like woodSource abc-decor.com

Shelves are often made from plastic in a variety of shapes, which can also be matched to a specific interior. Due to this factor, plastic has also become quite popular among manufacturing materials.

Hinges, like other elements, are best made of stainless steel. This way the model will last longer and will not lose its appearance over the years. Since painted handles can wear off from frequent touches and look not very aesthetically pleasing compared to the rest of the interior.

Stainless steel hingesSource directindustry.com.ru

Choosing a shelf for books

“If there are a large number of books, you will need bookshelves that cover the entire wall.”

There are no strict selection parameters for bookshelves. Here it is impossible to clearly determine that one model is great and the other is bad. You can take a standard design and force it with books. Such furniture will be as functional as possible. It will provide a place to store books and allow the housewife to keep the shelf clean, showing herself to be a highly qualified specialist in the fight against dust.

Laconic bookshelves in a classic design

You can go the other way and order a model of an unusual design. In this case, the shelf can combine a book storage area and a resting place, for example. You will get a sort of bookcase-sofa.

Functional bookshelves under the sofa

You can go even further and make a bookshelf the main interior accent. For this purpose, there are plenty of designer products of the most bizarre shapes.

A bookshelf can serve as the main interior accent

When choosing a bookshelf, you must know exactly where it will be integrated in your home. You also need to decide in advance what functions will be assigned to it. In the latter option, much depends on the features of the interior design of the room and the budget.

If you plan to mount the shelf above the desktop, then it is better to look for compact, but at the same time roomy models. You need to hang the structure so that you can get a book from it without getting up.

Bookshelves above the desk should be within reach

If you have a large number of books, you will need bookshelves that span the entire wall. The selected options must be reliable, since the volumes on them are heavy. A good solution would be to assemble shelves into shelving structures.

Full wall bookshelf

Shelves and books in the interior

Look at your room and try to decide for yourself which shelves will suit the existing design. If classicism prevails in the setting, then the bookshelves should echo it. Here it would be more correct to choose floor-mounted shelf options that occupy the entire wall area. The design looks pompous and cumbersome, so only owners of spacious offices, living rooms and libraries can afford such a solution.

Massive bookshelves fit perfectly into a classic interior

In other cases, you will have to limit yourself to something more standard, like wall-mounted bookshelves, decorated with sculpting or ornaments.

Traditional bookshelves with moldings

But modernity doesn’t like to read, and large-scale shelves have nothing to do with minimalist interiors. For a couple of books, small symbolic shelves are quite enough, and in modern and high-tech it is better to choose straightforward models. It would be great if they could be placed on the wall in a chaotic manner. The color scheme is limited to the style palette. Monochrome products in gray, white and black shades and metallic are in favor.

Airy bookshelf in Art Nouveau style

In principle, these interiors will not resist contrasting solutions, so bookshelves can be made here as accent spots, diluting the dull monochrome of minimalism. The main thing is not to overdo it with quantity, so as not to unbalance the situation.

Bright bookshelves will dilute the monochrome interior

Glass shelves will help bring weightlessness into the atmosphere. They will fill the house with sparkle and brightness. Although glass is considered to be a fragile material, in its modern design it can withstand significant loads, so a glass interior is full of advantages.

Glass bookshelves will add an atmosphere of lightness to the room

It costs nothing to give such shelves a wide variety of shapes. They can be made both massive and elegant, with different sizes, structures, textures. They are easy to combine, so when creating your interior, you will not be limited by anything. Wall-mounted options will become an elegant decoration and can change the perception of a room of any functionality, so the decision to use glass structures will help make the environment more stylish, beautiful and interesting.

There is a large selection of glass bookshelves of various designs on the market.

An equally original solution is plastic bookshelves. But indeed, excessive severity and complete symmetry of the situation can drive even the most optimistic person into depression, so a dose of chaos in the room will not hurt. Plastic models are most often made, the designs are modular, and they are developed for those who do not like monotony and standard approaches. The appearance of such shelves can change even every day, stimulating a new perception of the situation.

Irregular plastic bookshelf in a children's room

The fastening system for such shelves is more than innovative, and involves a single pin. This is quite enough to provide the product with mobility and allow you to create various compositions from its elements. Hidden holders will prevent items from sliding off the open and angled shelf space. A strange, unusual arrangement of things will bring a spirit of weightlessness to the interior atmosphere.

An original plastic bookshelf is suitable for a high-tech interior

Photos of shelves in the interior of rooms

Photo examples of design in the design of various rooms.

To the children's room

This piece of furniture is an almost obligatory element in the interior of a student’s room. Shelves with books placed on them provide a neat appearance to the room, greatly simplify the learning process and allow you to accustom your child to neatness. For the nursery, choose the most convenient and at the same time original models, for example, it can be a round rotating rack, shelves in the form of a tree, a snake, letters and much more.

The photo shows the interior of a boy’s nursery with bookshelves in the shape of letters placed above the table.

The best placement option is a place next to the bed, which provides comfortable reading before bed. In terms of color scheme, both bright products in blue, red and green tones, and models in more muted blue, peach or pink shades are appropriate in a child’s room. For girls, choose shelves in the shape of houses, clouds, flowers or various animals. A teenager will be suitable for more thoughtful transforming models or interesting options that can have the shape of a ladder, globe, hemisphere, spiral, zigzag or triangular design.

In the hall

In the living room, thanks to the home library, it is possible to achieve a truly aesthetic design. The place next to the shelves can be turned into a cozy reading corner by decorating it with a soft sofa or a comfortable chair in combination with a floor lamp.

The photo shows a low floor bookcase in the living room interior.

On the balcony

A loggia or balcony space is often equipped with floor systems, hinged corner or straight models. In order to protect books from dust, moisture and ultraviolet radiation, closed shelves are also used.

In the bedroom

If there is a niche in the bedroom, it can be supplemented with bookshelves, which can have a wide variety of shapes or be supplemented with lighting. In a given room, such products are often placed near the window, door or above the bed.

In the corridor

In a sufficiently long corridor it is quite possible to place a home library. Such structures are generally installed away from the front door, equipped with shallow shelves and open facades that display neatly and orderly arranged literature.

In the office

For an office, they most often select shelving up to the ceiling and sometimes equip them with a retractable stepladder, thereby creating a single compositional design that adds special impressiveness and solidity to the interior.

How modern designers see shelves

“The bookshelves offered by designers will be one hundred percent unique and unlike anything you have ever seen before”

Going to a store and purchasing a glass shelf with a standard configuration is not problematic, but if you want to have something original in your everyday life, then you should turn to original works. There you will find something unique that will resonate not only with you, but also with all your guests.

You can pick up an original bookshelf in designer furniture stores.

The bookshelves offered by designers will be one hundred percent unique and unlike anything you have ever seen before. How do you like, for example, such a model on which the volumes are not placed, placed or even hung, but are given into the hands of little men? Strange as it may seem, with their thin legs and arms these creatures are capable of holding very heavy tomes. It is noteworthy that the limbs of the figures are movable, so you will have the chance to adjust their position and independently decide in what angle they will hold the bestsellers enclosed in them.

Unusual bookshelves in the shape of men

The only disadvantage of this composition is the inability to place a large number of books on it. With a creative approach, such bookshelves can be used to display your most favorite works for everyone to see. The rest of the literature can be hidden in a drawer or closed cabinet.

Spacious bookshelf in the shape of a tree

Some people prefer hanging shelves for storing books, others prefer to store them in bedside tables; the designer’s imagination has gone even further and suggests folding the library into something similar to a box of a strict square shape. What is special about this product? The fact that it is made of solid wood, without any fasteners or other side inclusions. Perhaps it is the naturalness and interesting processing that makes the thing so cute. The box has legs, but this does not mean at all that it will stand on them. You can place the shelf any way you like, even upside down, then the legs will turn into additional places for storing books. It is noteworthy that even in this position, objects will not fall out of it.

Bookshelf consisting of irregularly shaped drawers

The secret of balance is known to another version of the shelf, which is created from separate block compartments. The latter balance on each other, touching only their edges and corners. You can try to assemble such original bookshelves yourself. The consumable material will be MDF or chipboard. The front edges are processed with a milling cutter, and the elements are connected using minifixes and dowels. Hidden fasteners can be used.

A designer bookshelf will add originality to any interior

Many people will like the unusual 3-in-1 shelf, which will be very appropriate above the bed. Its zigzag assembly allows you to place the book you are currently reading half-open on the desired page on the outer corner, place several subsequent volumes, and also attach a lamp in the area of ​​the inner corner.

Curved plastic bookshelf

Photo gallery - bookshelves