Brick bookshelves should be low and wide...the length of the entire wall! The two-tier shelves in the picture above aren't made of bricks and planks but the proportions are right. I'm stuck with using available examples. Two tiers of books is just right. One more tier of books on the top shelf, with no plank on top, also works, but that's the limit...no more!
Tucking this kind of shelf under windows works best but if that's not possible, and you need more height, then the additional upper shelves should be bracket shelves.
There should always be a little air space under the bottom shelf. That's to make it appear that the shelves are so light that they're flying. In reality they're heavy enough to squash an elephant!
Last but not least, the wooden planks should be thick, wide and long. Don't use wood that's thinner than the ones in the example above. When I used to have shelves like this I used three inch thick cedar planks. If I remember right, they were 9 inches wide.
I prefer a natural wood look. One coat of varnish only. The thin, glossy white planks that are sold as bookshelf planks aren't thick enough. They look like they're struggling to hold the books and evoke pity.
You should see what happens to those four level concrete block shelves in an earthquake!
ReplyDeleteMore bookshelf theories please! Love all your design posts!! -j.
ReplyDeleteAnon: Thanks. Some very good line artists and cartoonists don't have the knack for interior decoration. The kind of mental focus you need to create a world on paper or on a screen can cause an artist to show little interest in the actual rooms he lives in.
ReplyDeleteThe problem isn't an accute one but I can't help believing that an interesting environment can make a good artist even better.
I like the long wide book shelves. They make me want to sprawl out on the floor and look at a bunch of the differen't books!
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