Library and study built-ins

How long can a shelf span before it sags?

The span figure is the one that gets ignored and the one that shows. A 4-foot shelf of books will deflect visibly within a year, and it cannot be corrected afterwards without remaking it. Where a long unbroken run is wanted visually, the answer is a hidden stiffener in the shelf edge rather than a longer span.

Make shelves adjustable. Fixed shelves look marginally cleaner and are wrong within two years. Adjustable shelving with a discreet drilled system gives you the same appearance and the ability to change your mind.

What makes joinery look built-in?

1. It goes to the ceiling, or stops at a deliberate cornice. A bookcase finishing 14 inches below the ceiling reads as furniture pushed against a wall, and the gap collects dust.
2. It is scribed. Old walls are not plumb and old floors are not level. Scribing the joinery to follow them — rather than shimming and caulking the gap — is what makes it look as though it was always there.
3. The trim matches the room. Base and crown carried through from the existing profiles. A bookcase with its own unrelated trim announces itself instantly. See paneling, ceilings and trim.
4. It works with the architecture. Around a chimney breast, filling an alcove, aligned with a window head.
5. Electrical is inside it. Outlets and switches within the joinery rather than a cord emerging from behind.

Planning the wall

• Start with an inventory. Measure the books you own by linear feet, and by height. Most people need fewer shelves and more variation in spacing than they assume.
• Closed storage at the base. Roughly the bottom third as cabinets absorbs everything that should not be displayed and gives the composition weight.
• Vary bay widths deliberately. A wall of identical bays reads as a shop fitting. A wider center bay, or a break for a desk or a window seat, gives the wall a center.
• Plan a gap for objects. A wall of nothing but books is dense; leaving 20 to 30 percent for objects and pictures is what makes it look collected rather than stored.
• Decide the back. A painted back in a contrasting or deeper color adds depth; wallpaper in the back of the bays is a classic detail; a plain back disappears.
• Symmetry around a fireplace is nearly always right, and the two sides genuinely must match.
• Leave 20 percent empty at handover, or the shelves are full on day one.

How to style it once built is in styling shelves and surfaces.

Lighting shelves properly

• Light from the front edge, downward. A strip at the front underside of each shelf lights the shelf below; a strip at the back lights the back panel and leaves the books in shadow.
• Conceal the source. A small rebate or a lip at the shelf edge hides the strip. A visible strip of light-emitting tape ruins the effect.
• Warm and dimmed. 2700K, on a dimmer, and high CRI so book spines and objects read correctly. See the lighting design guide.
• Picture lights above a run, or a single spot on one object, are an alternative to lighting every shelf and are often more atmospheric.
• Plan the wiring before fabrication. Retrofitting light into finished joinery is possible and never as clean.
• Where does the driver go? Inside a base cabinet, accessible. This is the question that gets forgotten.

Fitting joinery in an older house

In Park Cities and Preston Hollow houses, the alcoves either side of a chimney breast are the classic location and rarely a standard size. Three consequences:

• Every dimension is measured, not assumed. The two alcoves either side of one fireplace are frequently different widths, and a good installer builds them as a matched pair that reads symmetrical even when the openings are not.
• Walls lean. A cabinet built square in a shop meets a wall that is not, which is why scribing is a skill rather than a step.
• Check what is in the wall before fixing anything — old wiring and pipework turn up in unexpected places.

This is exactly the situation where custom joinery is not a luxury but the only thing that fits, as set out in the built-ins and cabinetry guide.

Ladders, doors and the extras

• A library ladder is charming and needs real planning: a rail, floor clearance and somewhere for it to park. Only worth it above about 8 feet of shelving.
• Glass doors keep dust off and turn books into a display. They also mean opening a door to read something.
• A desk within the run works well — a break in the shelving at 29 inches with drawers below. See home office design.
• A window seat between two runs is one of the best uses of a study wall — see window seats and banquettes.
• Hidden storage. A base cabinet for the router, the printer and the things nobody wants to look at.
• Weight. Books are heavy. On an upper floor, a full-height run against a long wall is worth a word with someone before it is loaded.

Jan Revels

ASID Allied Professional Interior Designer · Chateau Concepts, Dallas

Jan has practiced interior design in Dallas since 1997 and founded Chateau Concepts in 2001. She holds a BFA in Interior Design from the University of North Texas. She designs and general-contracts residential and commercial projects across the Park Cities, Preston Hollow and North Dallas. Read her full profile →

Written and reviewed by Jan Revels before publication