16 Breathtaking Book-Cases: Design Ideas for You!

All books that one may own will never be the same size. They’ll be big, small, long, short, thick, thin, sometimes even shaped differently. The shelf for books has to be designed to accommodate all shapes and sizes. This bookshelf with shelves in  wave form rather than straight lines answers this need beautifully, not only forming tall and short spaces for different books, but contributing so beautifully to the decor through its sculptural quality.

This wall mounted, fluted piece of metallic ribbon also creates tall and short spaces to accommodate big and small books. The other metal ribbon, this one white in colour, is turned around so that open book shelf and closed fluting alternate to create an interesting mural. Of course, both ribbon forms add to the decor through their sculptural quality.

Using a tiny corner space so beautifully, this is another ribbon form a shelf takes. Twisting and turning alternately onto either of the walls meeting at the corner, this simple book shelf takes the prize for simple innovation.

Cute little chiselled grooves in a plank of wood made to fit specific books perfectly in place is indeed a very different idea for book shelf. We can guess it would be an ideal arrangement to deify certain favoured or revered tomes from one’s collection!

A sort of Pompidou centre effect given to book storage and display, this pipes and tubes book case is as quaint as it is innovative.  Made practically from plumbing material, viz. pipes and cement pipe sections, it works perfectly in terms of both function and decor. Particularly notable is the feature that makes it accessible from both sides, allowing it to also act as a screen.

This book case twirls around in a floor mounted loop, housing a cozy, little cushioned seat in the centre with a suspended reading light in assistance. A complete reading room in a piece of furniture! What I like here, though, is how books wrap themselves around the reader.  

A tree full of books to sleep under would be the ultimate dream for a book romancer, and that is precisely what is seen created in the bedroom pictured here.  The other tree is freestanding, three dimensional and has an arrangement allowing flexibility in suspending the shelves around the central pole. Originally designed by a 1950s architect and designer Gianfranco Frattini, the idea still retains freshness and novelty.

The bright yellow pacman bookcase has shelf edges contouring along the spherical face and a triangular wedge cut away through the centre to signify the snip-snapping mouth. It feels most wonderful though, to see this Pacman bookshelf gobbling up the television next to it. Very symbolic, 

Is it a flying lock of tangled hair or a book case up in flames? The simple twist given to this otherwise routine bookshelf sets one’s imagination on fire! After all, this kind of an innocuous but impactful innovation is what decor design is supposed to be all about.

To stash our books away in lofts is what we commonly do to get the imposters out of our neat spaces. But, this particular lofty book store idea takes things to the next level. Between the rafters under the loft, by just adding a shelving plank and painting it all a clean white colour, books find their place neatly, manageably, visibly, accessibly and out of the way, all at the same time!!

Tube insulated wires designed with palms and feet at one end are fixed at the other end to a soft board, enabling them to support and hold books and other knick-knacks. A great DIY idea, this can ideally work next to our bedside to chuck away books and other stuff we’ve been using just before nodding off.

This wacky bookcase design by Mangalore-based TFODian Preetham Dsouza takes the shape of an Anchor switch board, complete with the shelves tilted upward or downward to indicate switches in 'on' or 'off' position and socket holes to plug into!! You can find more such innovative book case designs by the same designer on his profile on TFOD.