Fortune Green Built-in Bookshelves

Built-in bookshelves in Fortune Green: what you get

Shelving can frame a door or a window. A bookcase can wrap around a door, with shelves running over the top, or frame a window with a seat or desk below. It uses wall space that often goes to waste. If you’re living with shelving that works with picture rails and cornices and books piled on the floor, built-in bookshelves made from birch ply and moisture-resistant MDF, painted by hand or sprayed can solve it.

Picture rails, deep skirting boards and plaster cornices are part of the character of older houses, and built-in bookshelves need to meet those lines neatly. Homes built before 1919 make up a large share of the housing around Fortune Green, so mouldings are something we expect to talk about at the design visit. The top of the furniture can stop at the picture rail or carry on to the cornice, whichever suits the room.

Everything we agree during the design visit goes into the written quote: the layout and internal fittings, the materials and the finish. If you’d like to change anything, it’s easier before the furniture is made.

Fitting day, step by step

Period rooms often have skirting boards, picture rails, cornices or coving for the furniture to meet. We cut and scribe the furniture around them on site, so it looks as though it was always there. The time the fitting takes depends on the size of the bookcase and the walls it’s fitted to, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. If your hall still has its original tiles or boards, they’re covered before any carrying starts. Fixings into older walls are made carefully, as lath and plaster can crack if treated roughly. Any decorating around the new pieces is for your decorator.

1. You tell us about your books and the wall you have in mind.
2. We come to measure and talk through depths, heights and cupboards, with the shelf spans in mind.
3. A written quote follows. Read it through and ask us anything.
4. We then make the bookcase in our workshop.
5. The bookshelves are fitted in your home, ready for your books.

Before we arrive

• Book any lift and let the concierge or building manager know
• Make sure pets are kept safely away
• Let us know where the boiler and meters are

Getting a quote

It helps to see the room before we come. Pictures of the whole wall, the corners and the ceiling line give us a good feel for the space. To share them, send us a few details through our contact form, and we will arrange a design visit.

Book a design visit

Read more

• Fitting Furniture to Uneven Walls and Floors

Looking after your furniture

None of this takes much effort. What we’d suggest:

• Plan heavy items for the lower shelves
• Note the sizes of your largest books and records
• Mention parking and stairs when we visit
• Consider a mix of fixed and adjustable shelves

Leave a little air behind books on an external wall. Look out for damp signs early.

Overloading is the main cause of sagging. Mention any heavy collection you plan to add when we design the shelves, so the shelves can be sized for it.