Alcove shelving

[ladybirdsarelovely33]

Any suggestions on if I should get alcove shelving around a chimney breast as either

1. free shelving with cupboards at bottom

or

1. fitted cupboards which incorporate shelving.

Hoping the links work

www.jvcarpentry.com/wp-content/uploads/photo-gallery/fitted_bookshelves_hendon.jpg

mybuilder-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/2_thumb/415535_5e6aa7fe4a.jpg

Both look lovely, it depends on your style. The first one is more simple suiting a modern decor. The second one would suit a period house.
We have a version of 2 that was hand built to replicate the original, in our period cottage.

I prefer the first ones and that's what I'm hoping to do in my house 👍

I prefer 1. I want to do similar in mine. Would we need a carpenter to do this, and any idea of cost?

1 here too. More seamless and you'd probably get a greater amount of storage out of it than 2z

@ladybirdsarelovely33 I have a version of the first one and I love it. I have a period home and think modern, sleek lines work well.

@mummyshark2018 I used a local joiner for mine and from memory it was approx £1200 for both alcoves. The other alcove is slightly smaller so is only 3 cupboards wide plus 3 shelves above.

Tattie I like that, esp your cupboards beneath. We have about a thousand books so would need a few more shelves going right up to the ceiling (unreachable by me without a tall ladder..).

We have open shelving in ours downstairs (our house has the most awkward shaped rooms going in terms of bits jutting in and out of the main room shape so we have a lot of alcoves) and they make a nice bookshelf.

Upstairs we've had made to measure fitted wardrobes that basically hid the alcoves among a run of wardrobe and adapted what was inside in terms of shelving/hanging space and cupboard depth accordingly.

I want this but it's so expensive!

I had quotes that were £1600-£1800 for both sides!

There’s a company that does made to measure flatpack ones which are cheaper than a joiner but more expensive than a standard flatpqck. Can’t for the life of me remember the name but google will find it.

It depends on how you style your house. They are basically the same: floating shelves above a fitted cupboard. The second one has some architrave around to bring it all together and as pp says make it look more period.

I prefer the first one too

Ours was done by our neighbour who is a joiner and he did it for us as an extra while he was doing some other jobs for only the cost of the wood - painted it up with white eggshell and it looks really good (until DH dumped all his crap on it - basically I'll only ever have a showroom house when I lose DH and the kids).