Modern Bookshelf  Design Ideas For Your Home Library

For every book lover, it is a dream to own a private library or a library right in their home. Naturally, when the interior designer is planning the overall layout of each and every room of the house, the bookworm’s heart is planning the design of their home library. A home library is an essential element of the house as it contains volumes of knowledge and wisdom and caters as an escape zone for people looking for some quiet time in their house amidst the company of books. A central feature of any home library is the bookshelf. The bookshelf determines the overall visual appeal of the room. Many home furnishing companies such as Wakefit offer a variety of modern bookshelf designs to choose from.

Many factors come into play when choosing from the available bookshelf designs. These are budget, space, material and style and functionality. Firstly, it is important to determine the available space in your home for the home library. Ideally, if you have a vast collection of books, you would need heavier and sturdier bookshelves that are more likely to take up space. However, if your creativity is limited by space, you can experiment with the latest modern designs that take up lesser space and simultaneously allow you to store a good quantity of books.

We have compiled below a list of the trending bookshelf designs that you may come across when you search for your ideal bookshelf online. Each design is unique in terms of material used, style and functionality.

  1. Straight shelves: If you have a large volume of your book collection and are not constrained by space, it’s best to stack them vertically, straight shelves arranged side by side like a cluster. Although it is simple in design, being flat, it allows storing more number of books. It is an elegant and sturdy structure for your books and can be used in any part of your house, either in a dedicated home library or even the living room. If you are short on space, you can use your wall space to create similar vertical shelving patterns to store more books.
  2. Books under the staircase: This modern bookshelf design is a clever way to utilise the space under your staircase to store your books. Besides being purposeful and clever, it also adds an element of chic to the design of an otherwise plain living room. The staircase bookshelf is typically a wooden bookshelf and can also be used to store other household items.
  3. Window-shaped bookshelf: This is quite an old school but still a great design to store a small collection of books right in your bedroom or study. It is window-shaped and placed usually above your study table. It is ideal for book lovers who don’t have a large volume but a few prized books that they would love to store near them.
  4. Floating shelves: Floating shelves are excellent bookshelf designs as they are functional in smaller spaces and look stylish. They utilise empty wall spaces to make the place come alive with your collection of books. These floating shelves can also be decorated with lights, potted plants and flowers to emphasise their presence in the room.
  5. Angular bookshelf designs: These are amongst the latest modern bookshelf for study rooms and are used to add a touch of quirkiness and asymmetry to your home library. Their unique design helps utilise an empty space or corner of the room to store your books and decorative items. Besides offering visual appeal, they are helpful to store a good number of books. Perhaps, they can also express the chaos in your mind.
  6. Tree of Knowledge: As the name suggests, this bookshelf is shaped like a tree with branches extending outwards that serve as floating shelves to store your books. It looks like a tree of knowledge and is a good choice for your home library, or your kid’s study.
  7. Open Shelving: For a contemporary bookshelf design, go for an open shelving option with a metallic frame with wooden racks. They can be placed in the centre of your bedroom or living room and stack a huge volume of books. The best thing about this design is that it offers readers a wider and clearer view of the collection at one glance, unlike the other designs, which tend to hide the books and reduce visibility.
  8. Modular Bookshelf: These bookshelves are known for their flexibility and ease of building. They are do-it-yourself bookshelf designs and are accompanied by instructions to assemble the bookshelf. Although simpler in looks, they are cheaper in comparison to other models.

Modern bookshelf designs use a variety of materials such as plywood, MDF, metal and glass. Depending upon your budget and space, the cost of your bookshelf can go higher or lower. So, which one would you choose for your home library?