Book shelves have a lot to say, perhaps more so than any other piece of furniture in the home. The first thing most visitors do when left alone in a room with a book shelf is scan the titles for anything they’ve read too. A single book can establish common ground or a common interest and go a long way towards setting someone at their ease. On the other hand a solid wall of advanced physics textbooks can be intimidating and it’s easy to imagine what a row of cheap romance novels can do to a carefully built reputation.
Sometimes what book shelves say has nothing to do with the printed words they hold. There is a world of difference between the look and feel of a utilitarian metal shelves solution and polished walnut, and the gap between either of those and falling-down student-style shelves built from boards and breezeblocks is even greater.
Good, solid wood shelving and racking is used by people who value their books, whatever those books might be. They have an obvious respect for the printed word and a love of learning but a high quality chrome-coated metal shelving unit speaks of practicality and organization. It says the user has a modern outlook, and while they like reading as much as the next person, they’re still unpretentious and approachable.
Whatever style you choose, an organised and practical system will make you appear sharper and more ambitious. It’ll help reduce mess and clutter and tell visitors that you’re a focussed go-getter, someone who cares about being tidy and efficient.
Modern life can be chaotic and confusing. Not only are there many demands on your time, but your wallet is bound to come under pressure too.
And all the products you amass through your shopping endeavours need to be stored somewhere, along with your important documents and other such items.
Indeed, the amount of paperwork that you have to deal with may well be on the rise all the time, with insurance contracts, mortgage agreements, work documents and other such things now an unavoidable aspect of existence.
If you do not take control of your possessions, you might well end up feeling swamped by all of this. And being in this position is not desirable. Not only will it result in stress, but it may also have negative practical implications.
For example, if you fail to keep a proper record of your receipts, you may be unable to make an insurance or tax claim, while if you lose the DVDs, books and other things you buy, you will be wasting money unnecessarily.
Getting on top of the situation is easy. All you have to do is invest in appropriate home shelving and other forms of storage. By doing this, you will find it easy to keep order in your home and are less likely to mislay items.
And getting shelving and other types of storage has never been easier. If you do not fancy heading out to the shops, you can order it online, meaning there is no excuse for not taking the reins when it comes to your possessions.
If you are considering revamping your home, you are by no means alone. Many consumers are keen to do this. Not only does it mean you can get more pleasure out of the residence, but it can also increase its value if and when you come to sell it.
There are a number of factors you should take into account when you are making changes to your home. Obviously you should choose decor that suits your tastes and, if you are thinking of putting the abode on the market, you should go for neutral colours and styles.
However, there are also more practical considerations to bear in mind. For example, you should ensure there is plenty of storage available. Whether this is in the form of shelving or anything else, it can really add to your property.
Having the necessary level of storage means you can keep the place looking tidy and it also means you are less likely to lose items, which can save you considerable time and hassle in the long run.
Meanwhile, because your residence is more appealing to the eye when it is free from clutter, you will get more enjoyment from it.
And not only this but when you come to sell the house, you should be able to get more money for it. One of the criteria many home seekers look for is the amount of shelving and other shelf storage spaces.
After all, they have their own possessions they need to keep and they need somewhere to do this.
It may be an idea to pay close attention to your home shelving, and ensure it looks high quality.
Shelving can be a very effective way of creating additional storage within a home. Before unleashing the power drill, however, it is worth taking some time to consider exactly where they should go and what they will be expected to hold. This will influence how strong they need to be and therefore determine the most suitable material to use, as well as the type of support. Thankfully, there are a few different options:
Fixed
This is the standard option, familiar to DIY enthusiasts everywhere. Brackets are fixed to a wall and a shelf is then placed across them. Brackets are available in all shapes and sizes to ensure any type of shelf is well supported. Style options range from simple to elaborate, with colours and finishes to complement all decors.
Built-in
This is a good option when dealing with alcoves as it benefits from added support and also utilises space which would otherwise be wasted. This is also a versatile option as the shelves can be installed at different heights, which means that the lowest shelf can also be arranged to leave space for any furniture underneath.
Adjustable
These manufactured systems provide strong shelving which is tidy and easy to adjust. To put them up, just fix the vertical rails to a wall and then slot in the brackets which support the shelves. The rails and brackets come in various sizes and are generally made of aluminium or steel. Although more expensive, this is the strongest and most versatile of the three options. Storage trunks can also be a good idea, being both convenient and practical.
Small shelves can be used for displaying small and delicate ornaments or they can be dozens of feet high holding seemingly endless pallets in a warehouse location. For such a simple object, a shelf truly does appear in a hugely varied number of ways.
Shelves are very simple structures and yet similarly to the wheel, our lives would be very different without them. The ability to store things using vertical space enables us to utilise so much more of the living or work space around us. Even a chaotically organised shelf will enable things to be lifted off the floor for either simple convenience to not be a trip hazard or for practical reasons to make something safer by being out of the way of children or animals for example.
A well organised shelf enables us to access the items we want quickly and conveniently. A book shelf provides quick visibility of the available reading material. A huge warehouse may not facilitate simple item selection through a quick glance but a well organised warehouse with documented storage will enable similarly rapid product selection. The use of automated order picking in robot operated warehouses is only possible through the use of organised shelving. Robot technology may be good but it does not work with uncoordinated clutter, shelving is the route to organised goods storage. It is probably not the case that the shelves populating your own environment are religiously organised to the extent that a robot could find what it needed but, you would surely be lost without the organisation they facilitate.
Racking and shelving are so commonplace in both our domestic and work lives that we pay little attention to them. Despite this low profile in our consciousness, shelves can add great character to a room or transform the functionality of a room by enhancing the organisation of your living or workspace. A library is only truly a library when books are neatly arranged on shelves in an easily accessible manner. Without shelving, a library is simply a book depository. An office without shelving will typically be either a paperless one or more likely, untidy.
Shelving comes in many different forms with some being heavy duty whilst some is decorative. Despite the many varieties there are two basic types, which are wall shelving and free standing shelving. Wall shelving is attached to a wall and is probably more common in the domestic environment where most rooms will have load bearing walls and there is typically not a major requirement for high volume storage solutions or significant load bearing on a large scale. Free standing shelving benefits the work environment where a combination of high volume storage, heavy weights and a less common existence of structural walls necessitates self contained storage solutions.
When purchasing shelving for a specific purpose it is beneficial to choose a vendor that has a broad range of solutions to choose from. This is equally important whether you are selecting based on aesthetic or practical considerations. As few bricks and mortar suppliers are able to demonstrate abroad range of solutions buying online will frequently provide access to the best variety.
Racking is extremely useful for maximising available space for either storage or display purposes or a combination of both. This extends from simple domestic shelving to more heavy duty shelving units, right through to commercial racking for warehouse facilities and pretty much everything in between.
The different types of racking available are almost as extensive as the choice of suppliers for racking and shelving solutions. If you were to stop and consider a world without shelving and racking, both your home and work environments would quite possibly look very different. Racking is commonly used in the workplace for document storage and warehousing. To imagine either of these activities without racking would lead to stacks of boxes and document folders littered over endless valuable square feet of floor space. At home, the capacity and convenience of the modest bookcase may soon be realised when the books are stacked in boxes on the floor.
Racking and shelving is a commodity product that fulfils so many different needs, many of which are exclusively practical whilst others are primarily aesthetic. As a result, these types of products are widely available in both furniture and DIY stores in addition to wholesale suppliers of such fixtures and fittings.
Considerations to be mindful of when purchasing any shelving system are whether the system is easily extendable. This could be the need to extend and existing unit upwards or along in the case of a functional warehousing setting or in the case of domestic shelving it may be the advantage of being able to purchase units that are complementary to existing furniture.
Sometimes, the only place we have any control over is our own homes. It is true to say that the furniture we choose plays a major part in how we live. The design of furniture from the imposing Victorian style to the more minimalist fashion of recent times is interesting, as is the way that our environment has influenced the design of all kinds of furniture. Some quite unusual items have been created.
The transformer robot steel desk, for instance, is similar to the robot in the TV series of the 1960s ‘Lost In Space’, although it was built in 1987. Its bottom section is constructed from steel and most of the top half has been built using painted plywood. The desk has two angled, open shelves above a roll-top section. Its writing surface has twin flaps and sits above is a filing cabinet and drawers.
In 1995, a fold-out table was built by two Japanese designers and is beautifully functional. From an upright side table, it can be folded down into a low coffee table by the use of angled sides and hinges.
In 1967 – a storage unit trolley was designed in order to show off a company’s newly developed laminate. It consists of four columns and 14 layers of laminate shaped in different ways. Mobility is achieved by four castors on its base. The bottom shelves are set at different levels some narrow to accommodate magazines and newspapers. The top shelves are more for cups, plates and glasses.
Storage shelving in the British Library houses millions of books, maps, journals, newspapers. When you consider that every single book ever published in this country, as well as sound archives, patents, newspapers and so on are stored there, you begin to get an idea of how difficult it might be to actually locate manuscripts and books when requested.
There are also drawings by famous artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and some of the most famous books such as a Gutenburg Bible and ‘Canterbury Tales’ by Geoffrey Chaucer.
Since the British Library is what is known as a legal deposit library, it will receive a copy of every book published in Great Britain and Eire. If foreign books are sold in Britain, the British Library will receive copies of them as well. It will also buy a lot of items not published in the UK and Eire, but only published in other countries. On average, it will receive, or purchase, approximately three million books every year – which will take up many bookshelves.
As a research library, it is one of the biggest in the world, and contains over 150 million books, manuscripts, maps, patents etc. stored on its shelves. Anybody wanting to do any research should first obtain a Reader Pass. They must provide proof of identity, and evidence that they are a permanent resident in the UK. A passport or driving licence, and a utility bill or bank statement with their home address on it, should be sufficient. The library stores records of all its contents in a catalogue, which can be accessed online.
Before Caxton’s printing press was invented, books were written by hand. This meant that the production of books was kept to a minimum. The books that were produced were generally stored in boxes and chests. Their owners would carry these containers around with them. When the number of manuscripts grew, mostly in the homes of religious or wealthy people, they would be stored on shelves or in cupboards.
The cupboards later became bookcases when it was decided they should be built without doors. After Caxton’s printing press made the production of books a great deal cheaper, more people were able to afford to own books. The one book most people would buy would be a bible, of course. The bible, incidentally, is still one of the most widely read books, even in an increasingly secular population.
Oxford University’s Bodleian Library houses bookcases that date back to the late 16th century. These are the oldest to be found in this country. Bookcases were of a very severe appearance, and quite a few attempts were made to make them more attractive. 18th century cabinet makers, such as Chippendale and Sheraton, built many bookcases that were decorative as well as practical, and proved to be among the most successful manufacturers of solid – but graceful – bookcases.
In public libraries, such as the British Museum, the storage shelves are frequently made from iron, and have cowhide covers. The Fitzwilliam Library in Cambridge is rather unusual, in that its shelving systems are constructed from slate.