Bespoke bookcases | bookshelves made to measure

| March 27, 2018
newly installed painted bespoke bookcase with adjustable shelves and cupboards

Bespoke bookcases for families with too many books

Bespoke bookcases which fit exactly into the space available are just the thing for taming wild collections of books. There’s probably no such thing as too many books but when they’re in double density rows on sagging shelves in inadequate cabinets or knee high in unsorted piles – or just never get taken out of the moving crates – then they’re a nightmare. Suddenly you’ve got to find that atlas for your daughter’s geography homework – where to start?

We’ve been building and fitting bookshelves for as long as we can remember – in all shapes and sizes. The newly installed bookcase above makes a strong decorative statement which will help define the style of the room. You might not want unruly stacks of magazines on these shelves – you might be reserving them for hardback first editions and some display pieces. So the untidy stuff can go in the cupboards underneath – and that might include technology.
bespoke bookcases, bookshelves fitted in family music room, library

Library bookshelves

The music room/library of a well read and talented family. All the reading matter is on show and ready to hand. Bruce has designed and fitted cabinets to make the best use of the available wall space. It’s functional and looks good. Note how the cabinets are absolutely part and parcel of the room – they extend to full ceiling height and are trimmed with the same coving as the rest of the room.

There’s no doubt that in this room the substantial shelves and the dense load of books they carry help in absorbing some of the sound from the grand piano.

Supersize bespoke bookcases

So you’ve got a huge Edwardian drawing room with a stratospherically high ceiling dwarfing standard size bookcases from the retail park store. You have to think big.

But not so big that the cornice of the bookcase clashes with your beautiful ornate plaster coving. Here we’ve toned down the elaboration on the cornice of the cabinet and left some space to show off the plasterwork – just enough for a large vase or some other display piece.
See also Alcove cabinets for traditional fireplaces
small solid oak bookcase, bookshelves, made to measure for landing corner

Freestanding bookcases, bookshelves made to measure

We also make small pieces of furniture. This simple bookcase in solid oak was made to measure for this awkward space on a landing. Below, wider bookshelves in the living room of the same home.

simple solid oak bookcase, bookshelves in living room