Take Your Book Collection to New Heights With Floor-to-Ceiling Shelves
Sure, we love the minimalist look that a single bookcase or shelf can bring to a room, but there’s something incredibly appealing about floor-to-ceiling shelving. Not only is it a great way to showcase your larger-than-life book collection, but it can also create a major design impact.
The good news is that you don’t need to have sky-high ceilings to try out this look. Truth is, a little measuring and creativity go a long way. Check out our favorite images below for some major inspiration.
1. Play With the Shape of your Home
Put the bones of your home front and center by installing a bookshelf along an irregular-shaped wall. The family at Hemlock Ridge Homestead took advantage of every nook and cranny with custom shelves and a colorful array of books. It’s a page-turner in our book!
2. Break Up Your Books
Just because your space is rocking floor-to-ceiling bookshelves doesn’t mean it has to be solely full of tomes. This Swiss house tour adds some visual interest by adding trinkets, art prints, and plants to the mix.
3. When in Doubt, Lay Down
If rows and rows of pristinely stacked books is a snooze, switch things up by changing the orientation of your piles. Wendy Goodman, the design editor of New York Magazine, strikes a balance with horizontal and vertical stacks of books. The result? A setup that simultaneously looks organized and perfectly disheveled.
4. Mix it Up With Multi-Media Objects
Leave it to an author to have a bookshelf that appeals to all the senses. This wall of books from Heather Blair is softened by a television set, white-washed shelves, and a rustic ladder.
5. Add in Some Next-Level Appeal
If the idea of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves feels overwhelming, consider placing cases of different heights right next to each other. This design trick will draw your eye upward and add some negative space to your jam-packed shelves. Let this Spanish house tour act as some inspiration.
6. Take Cover
It’s every book lover’s fantasy to be enveloped in stacks of page-turners—and this setup from Justine and Angus’ Toronto house tour turns that literary dream into a reality. This style adds some visual interest to an otherwise-underrated archway, while the color-coded tomes are totally on trend.