Bookcases & Shelves
Tall, low or slim
Height is the most useful way to narrow the choice. Tall bookcases hold the most and draw the eye upwards, which helps a room with lower ceilings feel taller, and The Hamilton range, Daventry and Wilpshire all offer generous full-height designs. Low bookcases work where a taller piece would block a window or interrupt a sightline, and they double as a surface for lamps and plants.
Slim designs are the answer to the gap nobody quite knows what to do with, whether that's beside a chimney breast or between a door and a corner. As a general guide, a taller bookcase in a room with children or pets is worth securing to the wall, which is straightforward and keeps everything reassuringly solid.
Open shelving and modular options
Not every book collection wants a conventional bookcase. The Cuban range offers cube shelving in one, two, three and four hole configurations, so you can start small and add as the collection grows, and it works just as well as a room divider as it does against a wall. The same range includes sculptural Z, E and S shelving units, which are as much a design feature as storage.
For a lighter look, wall-mounted and open designs keep the floor clear and suit a smaller room, and Liston's wall cabinet with open shelving combines closed and open storage in one piece. If you want glass in front of a collection instead, display cabinets is the place to look, and furniture by collection shows which ranges coordinate.
Styling shelves so they still look considered
Full shelves can look wonderful or chaotic, and the difference usually comes down to leaving a little room. Grouping books by height rather than colour keeps things easy to use, and breaking each run with an object or two, a small framed picture or a plant, gives the eye somewhere to rest.
Bookcases also earn their keep well beyond the living room. A slim design beside a desk turns a corner into a proper working space, and a low unit in a hallway holds everything that comes through the front door. Our living room ideas show shelving as part of a finished scheme, and there's more closed storage over on cupboards.































































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