No great country house would be complete without its library, lined wall to wall and floor to ceiling with magnificent books stored on superb library shelving, complete with a ladder on wheels, wingback chairs and a roaring fire.
Of course, we can't all be fortunate enough to have that kind of library at our disposal, but many of us are bibliophiles - and if you are, you will know exactly how quickly those books can accumulate in your home.
While you may not have a great country house, you can still organise some dedicated space for your book collection in the shape of library shelves and library shelving. It's true that a lot of modern homes can be a bit short of shelf and storage space, and a really good library shelving system can make all the difference.
You may say you're a reader rather than a DIY enthusiast, but if you do fancy some library shelves and library shelving, one good place to start looking for DVD shelving systems is Shelfstore's website, shelvingsystem.co.uk. They have a very flexible shelving system that can provide library shelving ideas to solve any kind of storage issue, no matter how many books you want to store.
First, take a good look at all those books lying around your home and estimate how many of them there are - to estimate how much library shelving you need, you could get an average stack of books together and measure them so you can make an informed calculation.
Perhaps you are a collector of rare books such as first editions? If that's the case you will be keen to position your library shelves and library shelving in a place where your precious collection cannot be damages, yet is easy to access and also available to browse without difficulty. If your best books are tucked away in boxes no-one can see them, and it's much nicer to have your collection spread out to view on library shelves whenever you want them.
Perhaps, though, your books are not particularly valuable but you do have a lot of them - and you know you will buy more in future. If you do have piles of books lying around your home, you'll be pleased to know that not only can library shelves help de-clutter your home, but they can also enhance the interior design of your home. For small homes, library shelves can create order and make the space appear larger, while large rooms such as loft apartments can be elegantly divided up by library shelving - you might want to create a special area for reading. Just add comfy chair and reading light!
Once you've worked out how many books you have to put on your new library shelves - and how much space you'll need in library shelving for the books you plan to buy in future - you can start searching your home for the best place to put your library shelves. Library shelves can use neglected spaces such as corners above tables, which is wasted space yet can be idea for shelves.
If you are really short of storage space, you can even put library shelving in your kitchen, where library shelves can be tucked above the cupboards to provide extra storage space. This is not the place for your valuable books, though - just keep the paperbacks here where they won't be harmed by kitchen steam.
You should also consider the space under your stairs, where the kids dump all their coats and shoes… Could library shelves create a great place to tidy away all those books that are currently cluttering up your sofa and living room?
If you don't know where to begin with DVD shelves, you should search for shelving ideas to suit your own space is to use the facility on Shelfstore's website, which helps you design DVD shelving that will fit snugly into the available space and be ideally sized for your collection now and in the future.
Books can be pretty heavy when you have a lot of them, but fortunately Shelfstore's library shelving is strong enough to bear the cumulative weight of all the books you want to keep on them. They provide library shelves in high quality pine wood, which is varnished for a tough and attractive finish. You can be sure your precious collection won't end up on the floor - Shelfstore's library shelving systems are sturdy enough to stand up to the weight.
The Shelfstore website even provides a pictorial guide on the best way to put up how your shelves once have designed the system and bought the elements, so even if you don't have many DIY skills you should succeed in fixing them.
You will find that your shelving is worth the effort. A good library shelving system will protect your books from damage while making them easy to find and arrange.
