If you have a library in your home and shelf space is getting tight, or if you’re about to become an empty-nester and want to remodel a bedroom into a library, then you might want to consider some of these options for bookcase doors.
Bookcase doors provide an added dimension to any room as well as hide a secret room, home gym, wine cellar or hallway. You get the idea.
Bookcase doors come in a variety of styles and shapes dependent upon varying factors such as door frame dimensions, architectural styles, and personal preferences. Homeowners with library rooms might want to consider bookcase doors as a means to maximize shelf space in a home library as well as shutting off the outside world for a period of time.
The dream of having a personal library is a “dream come true” for many avid readers. Wall-to-wall bookshelves with a rolling ladder (the library shown below utilizes a Putnam rolling ladder) to have every book within reach, a nice comfy chair and side table next to a fireplace is the perfect reader’s retreat.
There are a couple of vendors that have some really nice hidden bookcase designs that I wanted to show here.
Creative Building Resources “…builds hidden doors, bookcase doors, secret doors, bookshelf in doors, passages and passageway hidden behind doors with book shelves built in seamlessly. All hidden doors fit into standard door openings, or can replace an existing doors. Hidden doors and bookcase doors can be also be used for an entertainment center or pantrys.“
They have a really nice selection of the aforementioned products and I really like that they have products that fit into standard door openings.
Woodfold Manufacturing has a variety of bookcase doors to offer. You can also have custom folding bookcase doors custom made in widths of 36″ to 66″. They’re made from 3/4″ Appleply with a solid wood veneer and can support up to 500 pounds. This short video shows the Woodfold folding bookcase doors in action. I like that some of these bookcase doors can be installed in a pre-existing doorway, much like Hidden Passageways bookshelf doors.
APPLEPLY Description: American version of Baltic birch with alder and birch core plies and quality veneer faces. Birch face is standard, other woods available. Uses: Same uses as Baltic above, plus applications where a fine-hardwood face veneer is needed. Available Sizes: Available in 1/4″, 3/8″, 1/2″, 3/4″, 1″, and 1-1/4″ thicknesses, in 4×8′ sheets. Common Grades: No standardized grades, but manufactured with void-free plies and face veneers carrying a grade of B or better. Pros: Stiff, stable, void-free, nice-looking edge, holds screws, offers a variety of face veneers. Cons: Difficult to find, costly, requires large order to get optional veneers. Where to find it: You’ll find distributor information at www.statesind.com. Price (3/4″x4x8′, sheet unless noted): $50+. source
A library must have doors in order to insure that there is peace and quiet and to keep the riff-raff out (kids) for some “me” time. The library in the photos in this post show the custom built bookcase door in the library of the Victorian home I featured over the past few months. It was extremely heavy and difficult to hang.
Please excuse the dust on the lens that you see in some of the photos. Many times when I visited this house there was a lot of finish work going on so it was difficult to keep a clean lens as I walked through.
This short eHow article for advanced DIYer’s shows how to install secret bookcase doors with simplified instructions for (what I believe to be) a complicated carpentry job. Not sure how that would turn out. Here’s a much better DIY hidden bookcase effort coming from the world of instructables.
Want more DIY material? This article on hidden bookcase doors is a little more detailed than the last one and is written by Gary M. Katz, a nationally recognized author and finish carpentry specialist. (Source: Woodweb – an all-encompassing carpentry website with galleries, forums, knowledgebase, product directory and buy/sell hub. You could spend hours…days…looking…reading…and learning from this site.)
Lots more photos of Built-In Bookshelves
I started as a home-stalker… visiting brand new homes under construction in the neighborhoods near my house.
That inspired me to write about home building and home renovation projects — chronicling homes during different phases of construction from a consumer’s point-of-view. Basically, the tips you’ll find in my articles are a collection of checklists for what I think should (and should not) go into building or remodeling a quality home.
