Bookshelves & Study Nooks

If you have a decent collection of books, as most people seem to, you're going to need some kind of bookcase or shelves. We currently have an Expedit bookcase from Ikea that's pretty chock-full of books (below), but we'll have to get rid of it when we get our built-in wardrobe installed in its place.

We don't really have space to put a bookcase anywhere else in the apartment. But I've come up with a solution.

See that little wall protruding next to the dining table? Our engineer told us that we can't remove it as part of our renovations, so it's here to stay. And it's actually 600mm wide. And see the laptop on the dining table? Nowhere to put that either.

So, I've decided to install white floating book shelves on the protruding wall, right up to ceiling. The ceilings are about 2.7m high, so we should hopefully fit most of the books that are currently in the Expedit. I'll make the first shelf desk-height to house the computer, so we'll just pull up a chair from the dining table when we need to use it, and voila - a study nook! Up there for thinking.

It will probably look something a little like this. Now if only our builder would get his act together...

Here are some pictures of bookshelves and a study nook that I came across in my travels:

There's even a resident pug on the couch (although ours is black)! See how striking the dark background is against the books? Ooohhh can't wait to paint!

Bookshelves between the fireplace and the wall - a great use of space that would otherwise probably go unused.

A staircase that is also a bookcase/library, with steps wide enough to sit on. Possibly one of the coolest ideas ever...

Elegant, floating cube shelves.

This study nook is part of a kitchen, like ours will be, only on a much grander scale!