Bookcase or bookcase in a modern interior

Despite the total use of modern technology - you can listen to audio books and read news on the Internet using various gadgets, our country is still considered the most reading in the world. So, our compatriots will always be close to the problem of storing books in private houses or apartments of different sizes. It’s great if in a spacious home ownership it is possible to allocate a separate room to house your home library and accompany the storage of books with a comfortable environment for reading them. But let’s be realistic - in many small-sized dwellings, each square meter has to be cut to accommodate storage systems. In this case, there is no question of arranging a library - book racks are located in the living room, bedroom, corridors and even the bathroom. In our impressive selection of modern design projects, we will consider various options for using the useful space of dwellings for arranging book storage systems and more.

Bookcase - model variations and color schemes

Bright, beautiful roots of books with one look 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 set of open shelves fastened by a common frame. Such a structure can be presented as an independent, portable element of the interior, or it 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 in the lower part of the rack and store household items in them that you would not want 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 items that need to be protected not only from dust, but also from direct sunlight, use shelving with glass doors. Light tinted glass does not hide the beauty of the book roots, but can partially protect the contents of bookshelves from moisture, sunlight and various types of pollution.

To complement the design of the rack with open shelves can be built-in lighting. Even the most ordinary building looks spectacular, not to mention the obvious benefit of adding light sources - an excellent overview of the entire assortment of books and other contents of shelves.

If your bookcase is located from the ceiling to the floor, then access to the upper shelves will be limited. Convenient ladders on casters, capable of moving on rails, attached to the rack - a great way to use high weapons.

If you add a low railing to such a ladder, then the level of security of your household will significantly increase. Lightweight steel railings will not heavily weight the structure, but will ensure a safe path from the floor to the desired book located on the top shelf.

We often saw in films how a secret room appears behind a door decorated like ordinary bookshelves (with fake books, as a rule). You do not need to have such a room to use this design technique in your home. Most often, such a door with shelves has a small, but sufficient to accommodate one row of books, depth. Also, such designs are accompanied by wheels in the lower part. In order to avoid sagging doors on hinges, do not heavily load open shelves.

A bookcase can be a difficult open shelf nailed to a wall, but it can also act as an interior partition or even an island. The advantage of using the free space of the room for the storage system is obvious and the structure will perfectly zonate the space, dividing it into functional segments.

Firms manufacturing book shelves and bookcases to order can create a storage system of any shape, size and modification. The advantage of manufacturing storage systems individually for your size and architectural features of the room allows you to more efficiently use the useful space of your home. Corner racks, combined storage systems, smooth lines and shapes, even round cells framing the same shaped window.

If we talk about the choice of color for the execution of the bookcase, the most popular option is all shades of white. It is not surprising that for such large-scale structures, often occupying the entire wall of the room, designers around the world and homeowners choose a neutral white color. Such a structure will not visually “crush” the image of the room - light colors visually facilitate the perception of large-sized structures.

Equally popular in the choice of color for the execution of a bookcase or open shelves is a natural wood pattern. Nothing brings warmth and comfort to the atmosphere of a room of any functional orientation, like a natural tree or its spectacular imitation. In addition, the natural pattern of wood of various breeds is perfectly combined with plain wall decoration and harmonizes with other furniture of the room, made of wood.

Any deviation from neutrality in the choice of color for the execution of a bookcase or cabinet will create 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 for using as a coloring of a bookcase of the same shade as the main color of wall decoration is often used by owners of houses and apartments around the world. The image of the room is very colorful if the color far from neutrality is chosen as the basis.

It is possible to bring a color accent to the interior of a room not only by executing the shelf itself in bright colors, but using the backdrop of the structure and the background for books. A snow-white, dark or neutral gray bookcase with open shelves will look luxurious against the backdrop of any bright backdrop. This technique will look especially impressive if your books are arranged in colors, collections of volumes with the same roots.

Storage systems for books in various rooms

Living room and modern shelving

If there is a fireplace in the living room (it doesn’t matter with a chimney or an artificial hearth), then the space on the side of it is literally created in order to be decorated with the roots of books located on open shelves. Such a layout will not only allow you to place your collection in a comfortable reading room, but also bring orderliness and symmetry to the living room interior.

In the storage system for books and other necessary things, you can also embed a video zone. If the location of the TV above the fireplace is uncomfortable for some reason, then video equipment is suspended in one of the shelving niches (the location depends on the installation of upholstered furniture in the living room).

In a small living room, in which there is no need to decorate the space near the fireplace or equip a video zone, you can give one of the short sides of the room under the bookcase. As a rule, designers and homeowners choose a combined version of storage systems - with closed cabinets at the bottom of the structure and open shelves up to the ceiling.

If your living room is part of a spacious room in which other functional areas are located or just the room is large enough and you do not need to have a sofa against the wall in it, you can use the back of upholstered furniture to install low storage modules. They occupy a little space, but at the same time are capable of placing more than a dozen books.

Another possibility of mounting a large number of bookshelves is the design of the space around the doorway. Book shelves are shallow and a lot of space is not required, and even a very large collection of books can accommodate such a design.

Cabinet and library

The office in the English style for many of us is an example of luxury, wealth, a symbol of keeping traditions and love of our own business. Nothing sets up a job like a beautifully and solidly designed workplace. Bookcases and shelves made of wood, extending from the floor and ceiling, decorated to the tone of the entire set, a desk and book roots everywhere - a classic version of the cabinet.

If the cabinet area is small and there is no way to arrange a roomy bookcase along one of the walls, you have to look for free space between the window and door openings. If you do not have heating radiators under the windowsill, then this space can also be used to arrange storage systems for books, magazines and documents.

Bookcases of the same design, standing along both sides of the only window opening, will become a spectacular addition to the cabinet interior. Not even a single room has been disturbed by the symmetry in the layout and beautiful wooden furniture with luxurious carvings.

We keep books in the bedroom

Placing a home library in the bedroom can not be called one of the most popular options, but for lovers of reading before bedtime, this layout does not cause rejection. In addition, often in small-sized residential spaces there is simply no other way to install a bookcase. Here are examples of the design of storage systems at the head of the bed. If forging is standing against the wall, then the task is only to order a set of open shelves that is suitable for the size and configuration of the head of the head. But if we are talking about installing a rack around a window opening, then we will have to start by moving the heating radiator or constructing special perforated screens for them.

Many of the bedrooms located in the apartments have access to the loggia. Often the partition between the room and the loggia is removed, the latter is insulated, and due to this, the area of ​​the room for sleeping and relaxing is increased. In the space between the floor and the windows of the loggia, you can install low shelving for books almost all around the perimeter.

Storage systems in the children's room

To the racks and cabinets for the children's room are more demanding than the furniture in any other room. The structure must be solid, with well-worked corners (to avoid unnecessary injuries) and installed so that the child cannot turn the structure over, reaching the top shelf. That is why the racks and individual modules for storage in the nursery have a small height - it all depends on the age and height of the child.


All children love bright, saturated colors. If the decoration of the children's room is neutral, then with the help of furniture you can bring that accent of colors that is so necessary for the baby to focus attention. Such a striking element of the interior can be a low rack or cabinet. Another way to bring color to the child’s room is to design the back of the shelves with open shelves in bright colors. This simple and inexpensive option for decorating the walls behind the shelves can be a tricky accent, but also a highlight of the interior.

You can borrow the principle of placing books from stores - stands with minimal depth represent copies so that the cover is visible. Books are held at the expense of narrow planks or slats located along each bookshelf. To organize such storage systems, you need a minimum of usable space in the children's room, even a rarely used place near window openings will do.

Compatible dining room with library

If your private house or apartment of improved layout has a separate room with a dining room located in it, then it would be irrational to use this space only for meals. Many families do not often manage to get together for dinner or to invite guests for dinner. As a result, the dining room is rarely used. Many will say that it would be more logical to place cabinets with beautiful dishes, crystal and silver cutlery in the dining room. But one does not interfere with the other. If the area of ​​the room allows, it is possible to equip a bookcase on one side, and on the other a place for storing dishes.

If your dining room is part of a large room, which also has a living room and kitchen, then the bookcase can be used as a zoned interior partition.

Corridors, spaces near stairs and other auxiliary rooms with bookshelves

It would be a mistake not to use a wide enough passage of the corridor for arranging storage systems. The advantage of open shelves for books is that in depth such structures do not take up much space. But even a shallow shelf built from floor to ceiling will be a spacious storage for a large number of books.

The advantage of open book shelves is that they do not require a large amount of space to equip them. Even small niches can be equipped with shelving. Another plus of such structures is that not a single style of interior decoration will “suffer” from the presence of book rows with beautiful roots.

In order not to burden the image of the auxiliary room (especially if it does not have a sufficiently large area), it makes sense to use not large-scale book racks, extending from floor to ceiling, but low (half the height of a person) modules with open shelves. Such designs are very spacious, despite the modest height.

The space around the stairs is a storehouse for organizing storage systems. To equip open shelves, you can use the walls near the marches, the space under the stairs, and sometimes the distance between the steps. Of course, it is better to know about your plans for arranging storage systems before designing a staircase to take into account the built-in elements. But even with the finished construction, manipulations on mounting open bookshelves are possible.

For many reading enthusiasts, the most relevant place for this process is the toilet, so it is not surprising that bathroom design projects with built-in bookshelves appear. The only thing you have to take care of, in addition to arranging the mini-library in a utility room, is a good forced ventilation system to get rid of excess moisture.

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