The living room shelf is that piece of furniture that never leaves the scene, even after the rack and TV panels.
Multifunctional, the bookcase has reinvented itself and today it manages to be even more practical and decorative than it was until a while ago. Do you agree with us? Then come and see this special post, full of tips, ideas, and inspirations for you to have your bookshelf too.
Advantages of living room shelf
Multipurpose furniture
We have already spoken, but it does not hurt to repeat. The living room shelf is a multipurpose piece of furniture, that is, it serves both to organize and to decorate, in addition to serving as a support piece or even a room divider. When you bring a bookcase home, you are also bringing countless possibilities into your living room.
Complete the environment
The living room shelf is perfect to complement the decor of environments, especially those larger spaces where you look and feel that something is missing. It is precisely in these empty and dull spaces that the bookcase turns out to be a great interior solution.
Serves as partition
If your house has an integration between the living room and the dining room or the living room and kitchen, you can use the bookcase as a partition, demarcating the spaces for each environment. But be careful: prefer the hollow models made with niches instead of closed shelves. This way you guarantee air circulation and the passage of light, in addition to a cleaner and less visually heavy environment.
After all, the idea is not to separate spaces, just to create visual boundaries.
Variety of models
The number and variety of living room shelf models are impressive. Good! This makes it easier to find the ideal bookcase for your home. As a result, prices also tend to vary and fit any budget. One more point for the bookcase!
How to choose the living room bookcase
Functionality
Before hitting the hammer and deciding which shelf to take home, you must well define the use to be made of this furniture. This is the only way for you not to be frustrated with the purchase. Therefore, evaluate the place where it will be placed and will be used as support for electronics, such as TV, stereo, or DVD.
Also see if the shelf will be used to store books, CDs, collections, plants, or just decorative objects. For books or other heavier objects, it is important that the boards on the shelves are at least 25 millimeters and do not exceed one meter in length so that they do not bend.
For plants, see if the height of each niche holds the pots you have at home. For collections, it is recommended to have niches with recessed lighting, usually made with LED strips or mini spots, so it is possible to value the items in the collection.
In the case of electronic devices, it is possible to hide the wires by fixing them close to the boards. Another trick that helps to disguise the wires is to use boxes and objects in front of them.
Models
The most common models of living room shelving are those with side structures filled by niches or shelves. But there are also models of bookshelves with doors (open or sliding). If you have a lot to keep the most recommended is to bet on shelves with open niches interspersed with closed niches.
That way you avoid clutter and still protect your objects from dust. But if you want to expose objects safely and without the need to clean them frequently, opt for glass doors. This is also a great solution for those who want to exhibit tableware, bowls, and drinks. If you live on rent and want a bookcase adaptable to different locations, then a good tip is to bet on the modular model. In this case, the shelf can be “assembled” according to the available space by overlapping the niches.
For those who have little space in the room, it is worth considering the possibility of a bookcase built into the wall. It can be made of plaster, drywall, or masonry. The maximum recommended depth for a bookcase is 30 centimeters, more than that the risk of the shelves becoming a mess is great, not to mention that the furniture ends up being consumed in the living room unnecessarily.
Materials
Wood is the preferred material – and the most classic – of all when planning a room with a bookcase. But nowadays there are several other materials with which shelves can be built.
In addition to plaster and masonry (mentioned earlier), it is still possible to think of glass shelves, metal shelves, or MDP or MDF shelves, which are cheaper and more accessible than wooden ones. The choice between one or the other will depend above all on the decorative style that predominates in your room. A more classic and formal environment is best fitted with wooden, plaster, or woody MDF shelves.
For a modern room, it is worth betting on glass or metal shelves, especially, in the latter case, for decorations that refer to the industrial style.
Check now a selection with images of living room bookcase and get inspired:
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