Blue Library

Bespoke Blue Library for a lovely cottage near Bristol. The problem: The room was going to be their office, it didn’t have much storage and it wasn’t very big. It had a difficult wall nib sticking out behind the door running the length of the wall and the room and had very high ceilings 3.2 metres high. This is precisely why they decided to go bespoke. The brief: The clients wanted lots of cabinets and shelves to make a library / bookcase for an awkward wall in a small room. The clients initially wanted ‘L’ shaped cabinets. Lots of bookshelves, and I mean lots, like a bookcase wall and somewhere to hide office equipment like the printer and phone chargers. Book shelves needed to be strong so they wouldn’t sag under the weight of the books – this was of utmost importance to the brief, these clients love books and reading. Adjustable book shelves so they could fit their books exactly and change it up when needed. The bespoke library was to go right up to the very high ceiling and finish in a cornice. The cornice needed a particular profile to match their existing furniture. “It’s better than we imagined it could be” was the first thing they said when they saw it complete! When we first visited and discussed the design for this bespoke library in Bristol with them, it became obvious that an ‘L’ shape wouldn’t work in the room, so the first draft was to have the shelves and cabinets along one wall. There were around 5 revisions in the end, until the design was approved. The design was intricate and had to be spot on taking the wall nib and the opening door and latch into account. The whole bookcase cabinetry was made from solid tulip wood, this is a strong and stable material to take the weight of the books. The cornice was specially commissioned to match the profile of their existing furniture. For the adjustable shelves we used brass bookcase strips. The bookshelves are all solid English oak from our favourite local supplier a family run business called Interesting Timbers these were all finished in our rollered Osmo oil finish. Jo hand painted the whole piece, inside and out, it in their choice of colour (Woad’ by Little Greene). Jim installed it to our meticulous standards and the clients were very happy with the results. We are also delighted with the finished result! Do let us know what you think or get in touch if you would like to discuss your own project.