Where a Bookcase Goes Decides Which One to Buy

The books are only half of what you see on a bookshelf. The other half is the bookcase itself, its color, its frame, and how much of the wall shows through. It helps to decide what you want the bookcase to show off before choosing one.

Pale objects stand out against a dark case. Bright covers and a patterned wall look better with an open frame or a plain white case. In a room of straight lines, a curve adds some variety.

It is also worth thinking about what you would rather keep out of sight, since a bookcase with a cupboard gives chargers and paperwork somewhere to go, and about where the piece will stand. A corner, the wall under a window, and a narrow strip beside a door each call for a different shape.

Tribesigns Tall 5-Tier Bookshelf

White china, pale spines, and anything brass look sharper in front of this bookcase. The Sandalwood finish is an almost black brown and the panel behind the shelves is black, so the case acts as a dark frame around whatever you put in it. In a light, neutral room it adds one deep note, and the raised metal base keeps all that darkness from sitting heavily on the floor.

Tribesigns 5-Tier Solid Wood Bookshelf

If your books are well read and your pottery doesn’t match, this is the bookcase that will make a virtue of it. Knots and uneven grain show through the light brown distressed finish, and the whole thing looks like a stack of crates. Turn a few favorite covers to face out and lean them on the rail at the back of each shelf. Nothing here needs to line up.

Tribesigns Double Wide 5-Tier Bookshelf

A wall you have gone to the trouble of painting a strong color, or papering, deserves a bookcase that doesn’t hide it. Here the back is open, just a black frame and shelves in a washed grey-brown, so the wall carries on behind the books and becomes part of the arrangement. Leave gaps. A jug or a stack of art books with space around it will show its outline against the color.

Tribesigns 6-Tier Narrow Arched Bookshelf

The arch does the decorating before a single book goes on. In a room furnished with plain, straight-edged pieces, that one curve high on the wall is a welcome change, and in all black it stands out clearly against a pale wall.

Save the top shelf, under the arch, for something you like looking at, a vase or a framed photograph. We’d be tempted to buy two and stand them either side of a window.

HOMCOM 5-Tier L-Shaped Corner Bookshelf

Picture this in the corner behind a brown leather armchair. The black frame, crossed braces, and rustic brown shelves share the chair’s palette, and because the shelves turn the corner, the books end up wrapped around whoever is reading. Keep the novels together along one wall and give the other side to a radio and a few photographs.

Casual Home Solid Wood Ladder Bookcase

There is something relaxed about a ladder bookcase, and in white it would suit a bedroom or a landing. The shelves get shallower toward the top, which suggests its own arrangement: a basket at the bottom, paperbacks within reach, a small plant up high. Its slim rails barely interrupt the wall, so a soft paint color behind it will still show.

Sauder Beginnings 3-Shelf Bookcase

Children’s picture books and bright paperbacks are busy enough on their own, and a plain white bookcase lets them be the color in the room. The Beginnings is low and simple, in a Soft White with a little warmth to it. Put a lamp on top and hang a print above, and it becomes the corner you read in.

Sauder Cottage Road Bookcase With Doors

The Cottage Road has the look of a dining room cupboard, with paneled doors below and open shelves above, all in soft white. We’d use it that way, with cookbooks and the good serving dishes on the shelves and the table linens behind the doors. The Lintel Oak accent would sit comfortably alongside a wooden dining table.

Before You Fill the Shelves

Fix any tall bookcase to the wall before loading it, and put heavy books on the bottom shelves so the weight sits near the floor. This is especially important in a child’s room.