Living room bookshelves

[Nightynightnight]

I live in an Edwardian semi with a bay windowed living room. I have boxes of books that have been neglected since I moved in!

I need some shelf inspo. Can you please show me your book shelves? Especially if you have features like large skirting boards and picture rails. Thanks.

Any inspiration here?

<prepares to name change 😄>

So this would be my ideal but I don't have a chimney breast like that. My chimney wall is flat. I love the look of the built in shelves within the recess, I just don't have the recess.

Not a period property and its a pic from last winter (when we could afford to put the fireplace on!)...but hope it helps a little.

Sorry I took so long finding a pic I didn't see your update about the chimney and recesses so ignore!

You can build them either side anyway, and then put something between like a nice chest of drawers?

@TheRealKatnissEverdeen Again...so beautiful and exactly my style. I also love that you have a small superhero living in your house.

I'll take pictures tomorrow of my room and see if anyone has any ideas. I can't seem to figure out the space myself.

I have very few noise pics without toys or superheros in!
Have a mooch on Pinterest and Instagram too!

Can't post a picture, but basically we had a long wall in a high ceiling room, high skirting boards, picture rail and a big radiator in the middle. And lots of books. We had shelves built in that went up to the picture rail, that sat on a plinth the same height as the skirting boards, that went up and over the radiator. We added some sockets so we could plug in lights (there are many more good rechargeable lights on the market 10 years on, so you might not need this) because otherwise we'd have had a wall without lights in a room with no overhead lights (and we weren't about to gouge out the ceiling to install). The shelves were on pegs, so we can move and change the heights and gaps, but the uprights are obviously evenly spaced.

The thing that I worried about - would it look odd with the edge of the stack visible from the side as you look in through the door of the room - is no problem at all. Everything - walls, shelves, radiator, skirting boards - are the same colour, so it all melds together. I've thinned out books over the years, as well as buying more, and now the shelves house lots of books as well as pictures, ornaments, vases - it's a bit more Instagrammy (blush - lockdown did it to me) and considered.

Sorry, long post - but just to say, really, that you don't need a recess, but do build so that it fits in with the existing bones of the room; and you might like to think about breaking up a long wall of bookshelves with pictures and ornaments.

I understand why you’re asking! I’ve got a Victorian house with no chimney recess (the chimneys stick out of the external walls) and it’s a pain. We have a sort of feature glazed cabinet for books and knickknacks where one recessed side would have been. It used to annoy me that it stuck out into the room, unlike in our previous house, but I’m used to it now and it’s my favourite thing in the room. So my advice would be to look for a cabinet or bookcase that is a lovely feature in itself. Only downside is that this will only house so many books - we have billy bookcases in the cellar for most of them and smaller bookcases in other rooms.

You don’t have to build in bookshelves, in fact I think it is much better to have freestanding ones which you can move around if the use of the room changes. I have got ( too *) many books and I have bookshelves in virtually every room. Most of them have been in at least three other houses. I like old furniture , too, so many of them are either old or done up with paint to look old. I like the furniture to have decorative merit in its own right.

The most successful although virtually imoveable is a carved oak dresser which has been several different colours . When I am downstairs I will take a picture ( it’s a bit untidy at the moment because Im reorganisating the cds which like in the bottom

• actually can’t ever have too many books

We have the Vitsœ shelving system in our sitting room which I can highly recommend. They are attached to the wall between the skirting board and the picture rail so don't impact either. We have them in the alcoves either side of the fire but also have a wall of books behind the sofa. At some point in the future we will go above the picture rail.

We have a similar (but cheaper) IKEA system in the playroom but whereas Vitsœ have been making the same system for decades IKEA has already discontinued the system we have in the playroom.

Apologies for the state of the room, I'm untidy, shoot me 😁.
We use one bedroom as a library/office, one corner illustrated.
Bookshelves are freestanding Ercol units - no longer made in this style/colour but still available via ebay etc. We have half height units on one wall.

My loving room is probably similar to yours. It is a pain with the high skirtings and dado.
You could get shallow built ins either side of the fireplace.
My fireplace wall is flat too but the fire surround and hearth sticks out a lot so would balance.

Our house is Edwardian, A friend built the bookshelves for us.

Not tidy at all. 😂 May help you though.

This is the wall I'm planning on putting them on. The horrible couch and the TV are going. Behind that TV you can just see a radiator which is old and is getting replaced with a more stylish version but the size will be the same.

@TheRealKatnissEverdeen , sorry to derail this thread, but how does your TV cope above your fireplace? I’d love to mount our TV above our gas fireplace to add some shelves where it is now, but am a little cautious of the heat.

@toastofthetown absolutely fine. No issues whatsoever.I know it's not the done thing on MN but I like it. It's one that looks like a piece of artwork when it's off (samsung frame) and thats why I've placed it there.

Off on a tangent op but that radiator looks far to small to heat a room that size efficiently. Do you use your fire a lot?

If it was me with that wall, I'd centre the radiator on the wall, as you are replacing it anyway, and then build book cases either side and a few display shelves above with a nice rad cover, so it looks like one cohesive unit.

Like this. The current position of your rad makes things awkward.

This is my old house - the "chimney breast" is framing/plasterboard built to take the centre part.

The contents of the shelves look rubbish, we'd taken everything off to put up birthday cards which is why I have a picture!

I like the designs of the Cotswold Company, they are contemporary with a nod to classic designs that I think would work in lots of houses, period or not.
I have two of these: www.cotswoldco.com/living-room-furniture/bookcases/chester-midnight-blue-large-bookcase/?kw=Chester%20Midnight%20Blue%20Large%20Bookcase&queryid=1b04def12776f01d1e53d8ecb66cf928

I got a shock there, I thought "who's been in my house" right down to the random wood leaning against the shelf. Then I realised we don't have one of those rattan chairs.