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.
Types of cabinets for home library
Usually the home library is quite large, but bookcases do not take up much space because they are made tall. The model can be selected for almost any room, be it a small children's library or a serious place for storing documents in the office. The presence of such a closet will make the atmosphere homey and cozy.
However, the place to install it must be chosen wisely. You should not set up a home library in the kitchen, attic or in rooms with high humidity. Poor storage conditions will negatively affect the appearance of books, especially if the cabinet is not glazed.
Every reading lover will be able to choose a bookcase that meets all his requirements. There are a huge variety of them, ranging from large models designed for a separate room, to wall shelves and small racks. Any cabinet can fit into the interior, and it will sparkle with new colors. Even old antique furniture found in the attic can be restored and brought back to life.
If there is not enough space in the room, you have to look for small cabinets or spacious shelves. There are many options for their placement. For example, bookshelves can be hung in the form of a chess set or another interesting composition can be created. This will not only save space, but also add originality to the interior, and you can place memorable decor and other souvenirs on top.
In a small living room you can also install a cabinet with drawers. It is convenient because in the lower cabinets you can store newspapers, magazines and other thin publications that are difficult to put on shelves.
Another solution for rooms of modest size is a corner closet. It is small in size, but holds a large collection of books.
And if you want to zone a room, dividing it into several spaces, this can be done using a shelving unit. Such a partition will not burden the room - it looks light and unnoticeable.
If space allows, purchasing a wardrobe would be an excellent solution. The design looks stylish and relevant, so it will fit into a modern interior. Books stored in such a cabinet are reliably protected from dust, dirt and other influences.
Some cabinets are quite difficult to disassemble and transport to a new location. For those who often move and travel, modular furniture is perfect. It is easy to transport; in addition, if there are not enough shelves, you can purchase individual modules and increase the capacity of the cabinet.
Combined designs consisting of two elements are popular. The main thing is that they are designed in the same style, otherwise an imbalance will arise.
For a large collection of books, it is advisable to allocate a separate room that can be equipped as a real library. If the cabinets are high, ladders are used to access the upper shelves. A wardrobe is perfect for a bedroom or living room, in which you can store not only literature, but also decor and other things. Its distinctive feature is the presence of closed shelves, and some models have a designated area for the TV.
Combined pieces of furniture are also suitable for a children's room. You can order ready-made modules combined with a workplace. This is a very functional and convenient solution that will help you properly organize space in your child’s room.
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.
Bookcase - variations of models and colors
Bright, beautiful book spines by their very appearance can not only diversify the color palette of the room, but also become a decorative element. That is why it is not customary to hide them behind closed doors. A traditional bookcase is a collection of open shelves held together by a common frame. Such a structure can be presented as an independent, portable element of the interior, or can be built into any niche.
An open bookcase is often complemented by closed cabinets with hinged or sliding doors. It is most convenient to place such storage systems at the bottom of the rack and store household items in them that you would not like to put on public display. Sometimes closed cells are combined with open shelves in a chaotic manner, creating original images of storage systems.
If your extensive collection of books contains valuable copies that need to be protected not only from dust, but also from direct sunlight, use shelves with glass doors. Lightly tinted glass will not hide the beauty of book spines, but can partially protect the contents of bookshelves from moisture, sunlight and various types of dirt.
You can complement the design of a rack with open shelves with built-in lighting. Even the most ordinary structure looks more impressive, not to mention the obvious benefits of adding light sources - an excellent overview of the entire assortment of books and other contents of the shelves.
If your bookcase extends from the ceiling to the floor, then access to the upper shelves will be limited. Convenient ladders on rollers that can move along rails attached to the rack are an excellent solution for using tall weapons.
If you add low railings to such an extension ladder, the level of safety for your household will increase significantly. Light steel railings will not weigh down the structure much, but will ensure the safety of the path from the floor to the desired book located on the top shelf.
We have often seen in films how behind a door designed like ordinary bookshelves (with fake books, as a rule), there is a secret room. You don't have to have a room like this to use this design trick in your home. Most often, such a door with shelves has a small depth, but sufficient to accommodate one row of books. Also, such designs are accompanied by wheels at the bottom. To avoid sagging doors on their hinges, do not heavily load open shelves.
A bookcase can be simply open shelves nailed to the wall, but can act as a room divider and even an island. The advantage of using the free space of the room for a storage system is obvious, and at the same time the structure will perfectly zone the space, dividing it into functional segments.
Companies that manufacture custom bookshelves and cabinets can create a storage system of any shape, size and modification. The advantage of making storage systems individually to your size and architectural features of the room allows you to more efficiently use the usable space of your home. Corner shelving, combined storage systems, smooth lines and shapes, even round cells framing a window of the same shape.
If we talk about choosing a color for a bookcase, the most popular option is all shades of white. It is not surprising that for such large-scale structures, often occupying an entire wall of a room, designers around the world and homeowners choose neutral white. Such a structure will not visually “put pressure” on the image of the room - light colors visually facilitate the perception of large structures.
No less popular in choosing a color for a bookcase or open shelves is the natural grain of wood. Nothing brings warmth and coziness to the atmosphere of a room of any functional nature like natural wood or its spectacular imitation. In addition, the natural pattern of wood of various species goes well with monochromatic wall decoration and harmonizes with other room furniture made of wood.
Any deviation from neutrality in the choice of color for a bookcase or cabinet leads to the creation of a color accent. The largest furniture in the room will certainly attract attention, but if it is made in a beautiful, colorful color, it can easily become the focal point of the interior.
The design technique of painting a bookcase in the same shade as the main color of the walls is often used by owners of houses and apartments around the world. The image of the room turns out to be very colorful if a color that is far from neutral is chosen as the basis.
You can bring a color accent to the interior of the room not only by making the shelving itself in a bright tone, but also by using the backdrop of the structure, a background for books. A snow-white, dark or neutral gray shelving unit with open shelves will look luxurious against any bright backdrop. This technique will look especially impressive if your books are arranged by color, collection of volumes with the same spines.
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 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.
Criteria for choosing a bookcase for a library
Choosing a bookcase may not be as easy as it seems at first glance. When choosing a model, you should pay attention to the following criteria:
- Capacity, size and functionality of the cabinet. The best option would be a cabinet that takes up the least amount of space but can hold a sufficient number of books. Also consider the size of your collection and how often you plan to add to it. If books are purchased quite rarely, a small shelving unit will be enough to accommodate existing publications.
- Style and appearance. The cabinet should match the interior design. Color also plays an important role - for example, a bright option is definitely not suitable for classics. Antique vintage cabinets will fit perfectly into a room decorated in Provence style, and laconic models of simple geometric shapes are often used in minimalist interiors.
- The room for which the wardrobe is selected. The appearance of a cabinet for an office is very different from a cabinet for a nursery. To organize a children's library and awaken a child's love of reading, you can choose original models, for example, in the form of animals or trees.
- Material of manufacture. Furniture must be assembled from high-quality, reliable materials. Only then can you be sure that the cabinet will serve for many years. The most preferred material is, of course, wood. Structures made from noble species, for example, ash or oak, will add solidity and status to the interior. You also need to pay attention to glass inserts, if any. The glass used must be resistant to mechanical stress.
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.
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.
How to decide on sizes
The dimensions of the rack are limited only by the area of the room and the requests of the owners. But there are a few things to consider.
- The size of the product should be proportional to the size of the room. For a small room, compact products with open shelves or transparent glazing are suitable so as not to create a feeling of cramping. In a spacious room, large systems with a dozen sections will look good, where the entire home library is visible.
- If the book storage system is made to cover the entire height of the walls and the ceilings are high, provide access to the upper shelves - a special library ladder is suitable for this.
- In addition to height and width, depth is also important - preferably at least 15 cm, so that standard-sized books can be placed on the shelves. For large-format publications, you need to provide a depth of at least 30-35 cm.
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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.
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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.
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.
Dimensions of a bookcase in a home library
First of all, the choice of place to store books is influenced by the size of the room. Before buying a cabinet, you need to measure the dimensions of the furniture already in the room in order to understand what size model you should select. Ideally, draw a plan or use special online interior design programs, where you can create a three-dimensional model of the room and see how the size of the closet will fit.
To make it more convenient to search for books, it is better to place them in one row. When choosing a cabinet, the depth of the shelves plays a big role. How many shelves the model can accommodate depends on this criterion. Most often, the depth of the shelves is about 20 cm, the height ranges from 20 to 25 cm. Of course, there are many cabinets of non-standard sizes that are suitable for storing tall printed publications.
Don’t forget about the walls: hanging shelves are a great solution for small rooms. This is another way to save space, because they are mounted on the wall, and most often above the workplace.
