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.
Important points
It is very important to take into account the “load capacity” of the structure being created. If there are a lot of books and you plan to place them on shelves in several rows, then the standard fasteners included with ready-made structures may not hold up and it is better to buy reinforced brackets. For homemade devices, it is also better to choose a more serious mount - you always need a margin of safety.
If the bookshelves under the ceiling are made of plasterboard, then an additional profile can be provided that will not allow the plasterboard to bend under the weight of the books. This must be done at the design and assembly stage of the structure. In addition, niches made of gypsum plasterboard are rarely equipped with doors, which means that books will have to be wiped from dust more often and more free access must be provided to them.
The appearance of the shelves you choose should roughly match the overall design idea used in the room. The place for storing books should not be discordant with the surroundings and should become part of it. This is especially true when developing the design of self-assembled storage devices.
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.
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
What to make from
The easiest way is to provide yourself with a place to store books by going to the store and buying ready-made shelves. However, this solution carries with it some not very obvious disadvantages:
- Standard shelf sizes may not fit a particular room.
- The appearance will always be at the choice of the manufacturer and there may be a situation in which you will not be able to find a model that suits you in color and shape.
If you have certain design skills, then you will be quite capable of making such devices yourself. In addition, if you show some creativity, you can create a place for books even from scrap materials. The easiest way is to make shelves from laminated chipboard, sold in any construction market. You just need to purchase parts of the required sizes or order cutting of a large sheet into blanks of the required size. In this case, you will need to purchase materials for decorating the edges.
There is another option - to make a niche for books from plasterboard. True, this option is associated with the need to carry out many additional operations, such as installing load-bearing metal profiles, as well as puttying and painting the finished structure. In addition, it is better to carry out such work at the stage of renovation of the room, since when installing shelves, a lot of debris appears and there is a risk of ruining the finish of the walls.
You can assemble simple shelves from ordinary boards. If you add a little imagination and diligence, it will not be difficult to give an ordinary board an original look - in stores there are many different materials and paints with the help of which any board will turn into a work of art.
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
Racks and bookshelves: photos, descriptions
Cabinets, shelves and racks differ in both volume and type of structure, and their characteristics and functionality largely depend on the material from which they are made.
Types of shelves according to installation location:
- wall;
- floor;
- portable or mobile;
- hanging.
Using a board and rope you can make an original bookshelf
Wall bookshelves
Wall shelves for books are the simplest and most common option for storing printed publications. The most primitive design is an ordinary board with brackets for fastening to the wall, a little more complicated - four boards forming a rectangle or square and multi-tiered structures of various geometric shapes.
bookshelves
Floor shelf for books
Floor structures or shelves are a combination of a cabinet and open shelves and are designed to store books, place photographs and decorative items. This piece of furniture should have good stability and can be easily moved to any place in the apartment or house. Floor bookshelves can have a classic rectangular shape or be angular.
floor book shelves
Montessori book shelf
At the beginning of the last century, the Italian teacher Montessori proposed a method of early childhood development, which soon gained great popularity throughout the world. This pedagogical methodology involves the use of special furniture and educational materials to help the child develop independently. One such element is the Montessori bookshelf, which consists of two sides and pockets or shelves with crossbars for books that are most relevant at the moment for children's development.
Montessori book shelves
Portable bookshelves
Portable or mobile shelves in the home library and living room make it easy to change the decor by simply moving them to another place. As a rule, these are structures in the form of a horizontal rectangle or a small column, mounted on legs or special wheels or rollers. Mobile shelves are mainly of the open type.
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
Shelf placement options
There are several original solutions that allow you to place the shelves closer to the ceiling and at the same time not violate the main idea of the room's design. Most often, the following options for their location are found:
- Along the entire room on one of its sides or opposite each other.
- Above the doorway.
- Along one of the walls of the corridor.
- Corner location.
At the same time, all of the proposed options can be combined or used separately. You can arrange a place to store books in the corner of one of the rooms and place another shelf along the wall. It is important that the shelves have relatively free access, since from time to time, even if you don’t read anything, you will need to wipe the dust off the spines and just tidy up.
