People who love to read tend to collect a large amount of books over the years. Bookcases are ideal for storing and displaying them. Without bookcases they end up filling our garages and attics with boxes.

Oak Book Shelves

Bookcases are practical and decorative at the same time. They can be added to any home much easier than most cabinetry. Bookcases range from a single freestanding unit to a full library in a room of its own. They can also be built into other cabinets such as entertainment centers and kitchen islands.

Oak Book Shelves

A bookcase is generally 1' deep with adjustable shelving, allowing books of any size to be on display. Shelf standards or drilled holes with clips are two ways to build adjustable shelving. The height of a bookcase is best at 7' otherwise you would need a ladder to access the top.

The bookcase should be open to better display your favorite books. Another design is to build doors at the bottom around 30" tall for storage of less used books. Taller bookcases can include a built in ladder for those people who have large libraries.

Books stored in boxes can get damaged over time reducing their value. So keep this in mind when deciding to add bookcases to your home. If you have boxes of books in the attic or garage chances are they are damaged already. So you should look in to purchasing some bookcases and get those books out in the open so everyone can enjoy them.

Easy access is essential to any book collection. Books stored in boxes or under cabinets are easily forgotten. If you are looking to purchase pre-built bookcases you choices are limited, call your local cabinetmaker, and see if he can build one that fits your needs.

Bookcases For the Home

Oak Book Shelves

Toy Organizer Shelf Foot Stools Wood

Although this article is about bookcases, I'd like to get this out of the way first and foremost; lots of people still read. It's a fantastic way to spend your time and you can invariably gain the shared wisdom of the great minds before us. Standing on the shoulders of giants springs to mind. Alternatively you can just zone out and read a book purely for the emotional stimulus. As long as it's interesting, it's good to read, that's my rule. But again, that's not the point of the article.

Oak Book Shelves

Bookcases were once built to hold, store and display books, nothing more, nothing less. With today's contemporary design and the rapid increase in technology as well as the fusion of fashion and function, bookcases are becoming bolder and more stylish. They achieve now what multiple sets of shelves used to. In fact they are beginning to overtake shelves, TV stands and end tables as a place to 'put something' and are becoming more like murals than storage.

Oak Book Shelves

A couple of great examples are the Jigsaw and Pombol bookcases by Portuguese furniture designer Tema Home'. Tema have managed to find the perfect synergy of practicality and aesthetics with their creations. The construction is easily equal to the top Italian designers. Not only are there areas for books, there are sections for your television, other set top boxes and a multitude of decorative ornaments. Of course you can put things wherever you like and there aren't any 'designated' spots, but the display models I've seen do a fantastic job of demonstrating their versatility.

A bookcase is no longer a discreet element that sits in the corner or on a secondary wall somewhere. They can be magnificent structures that establish a real presence in the room. Of course it doesn't have to break from tradition the way I may seem to be suggesting. I think we've all at one point or another had our breath taken away by an incredible collection of text volumes; books containing some of the most valuable information of our time and of the past. Think of the Great Library of Alexandria... or various scenes from Harry Potter. In more humble settings, a grand bookcase filled with encyclopaedias and classical works is really quite something to behold. As decoration or as a display of your learning, capability and achievement, bookcases remain quite relevant even in today's minimalist settings.

As with many of the most reputable European designers of today, these kinds of bookcases are built to be part of a collection. Although it's easily possible to use modern bookcases for just about any living room function (an entertainment centre, decorative shelving, CD and DVD rack, a place to put your coffee mug etc.), designers seem to be keeping the traditional function in mind by creating individual furniture pieces (such as coffee tables and sideboards) to compliment the bookcases whilst being perhaps a little more suited for certain tasks (e.g. a plate of biscuits).

Bookcases, Not Just For Books Any More

Oak Book Shelves