I like the idea of furniture or just use floating shelves.

For built-ins, you would have to reproduce the style that would have been original to the Architecture. Is your house Craftsman or Victorian? Looks so by the floor pattern-- and those would need to be re-worked around the cabinets. And the molding.

Does the house already have built-ins? It's a common practice back then so copy those. If not, research how they were designed into a space.

Otherwise they will always look out of place.

Thank you! We do have some built ins already in the living room and honestly, they do look a bit out of place and not very well designed. I think floating shelves isn't crazy, but how do you get books to stay up? Would you center them to the middle of that space?

Hard to answer without seeing the rest of the space, whether your dining room furniture is forever, and without knowing how high you envision this bookcase to be.

You need to measure the space between the door moulding and the baseboard and see what depth that is. The you can look on the internet at what's availiable that would fit your space. You might want to look at vintage as well, because very often the older cases are made of hardwoods that have not sagged despite being decades old, whereas new build, even when done by a carpenter, just isn't as strong.

I think dining room libraries and library dining rooms are beautiful, and were it an option in my house I would do it using more than one wall, but it isn't. We certainly have enough books to cover all the walls of a dining room, but the space itself just couldn't make it work.

I would buy a ready made book case.

Have you checked out thrift stores?

great DIY opportunity. Paint to make your own style.

Hard to know if that's really the best wall for books unless we see the total room.

These days it pays to be selective in the books you keep around the home.

I don't object to books in the dining room because sometimes rooms have to serve multiple purposes, however, I'd make sure there wasn't a better location for the bookshelves first.

For floating shelves you might have bookends somewhere? Or something heavy. Or a stack of books on the end of the shelf works.

I think this is a fantastic piece but admittedly expensive, especially with shipping, and maybe just doesn't fit, size wise or style wise -- although I don't think it matters if your dining set is moder. But thought I would show you anyway. I would cut the baseboards if necessary to make this piece fit. It is quite deep with a stub-toe hazard at the bottom if it sticks out too far. It's possible the casters could simply be removed (carefully!) so the case sits flat on the floor without protrusions.

https://www.chairish.com/product/6325897/unusual-19th-century-english-double-sided-bookcase-bookshelf

For books i’d just buy bookshelves that fir and end before lightswitch. i’ve custom ordered amish made furniture when i couldn’t find right size but i have a craftsman home so style fits.

Can you tell who doesn't read or love books? They are wonderul in dining rooms and mae for a great entertaining space (depending on whom you invite).

Floating shelves are not going to support your books unless you get a knowledgeable professional in.

Given the style I see in the photos you could go with very open shelving with a pipe-like structure that attaches firmly into the wall. If I can find a photo of what I mean I'll post it.

rejuvenation sells this wall unit but it is rather severe

https://www.rejuvenation.com/products/holgate-triple-modular-shelving-set-with-72-rails/?catalogId=84&sku=3870290&cm_ven=PLA&cm_cat=Google&cm_pla=Organization%20%3E%20Modular%20Shelving&cm_ite=3870290_14334675725&gclid=CjwKCAjw29ymBhAKEiwAHJbJ8kDh1NyRlVRfHAU4Pmhw1qNyOFMPRvfo-yMkIaOvEG_0Kwd02kESIBoCV-cQAvD_BwE

You can up the charm by using copper pipe if that at all fits your space. But it's worth at least looking at the DIY options because your depth space appears to be narrow.

https://osmphotovoice.wordpress.com/2015/06/12/diy-bookshelves/

this is less severe unit from rejuvenation, but depending on how big you want it, it can end up costing more than an investment in an antique

https://www.rejuvenation.com/products/hart-modular-walnut-5-shelf-triple-shelving-unit/?cm_src=reducedClick

If it were me, I would scrap the idea of a built-in (it doesn't make sense in that location, and it will interfere with the lovely crown molding) and look for an antique bookcase with glass doors. I think that would suit the space and the style of the house and look more appropriate in a dining room. But I'm not sure it would work with your existing dining table and chairs. I really dislike the idea of floating shelves. They don't work well for real book storage and they will fight stylistically with your trim.

But on second thought, why not put a big bookcase on the large blank wall behind your sofa? That seems like a spot crying out for books (and a plant or two).

No builtin (due to your fabulous trim and floor as stated above) but a freestanding piece would be lovely (and not permanent).

A small breakfront would be suitable, especially if you like vintage pieces. Books behind glass stay a lot cleaner!

You probably don't have room to open glass doors on a book case in a dining room.

If you buy or create shelving that has no barrier at the end of the shelves you will end up spending a lot of money on bookends heavy enough to keep alls your books on the shelves when you use the shelves.

If you put books behind a sofa, you will need to reach over the sofa to get the books you want. Also, if you cannot support the weight of books by using the floor, you need serious profressional work to make sure the shelving is secure on the wall.

You also need to consider whether your book collections is living room worthy as decor behind a sofa. A great many books in my home collection are paperbacks. They aren't all a single color. I need to arrange them to find them, not so they look like decor. I'm not going invest 200 hours of my life making white book jackets for them or tying them up with raffia and ribbons. I'd rather spend my time reading them.

Most people create shelving in their house to display photos and plants and decor objects. The etageres that are being suggsted to you in photos or floating shelves are not useful if what you want is to store your books conveniently in your living space because you read them.

There are useful inspiration photos here

https://www.homesandgardens.com/interior-design/small-home-library-ideas

I wouldn't worry about dusting your books but if is not a bad idea to keep a HEPA air purifier in any room where you keep a lot of books

(Unless the table is moved, there is plenty of space to open a cabinet door, assuming the door belonged to a cabinet which was narrow enough to fit on the wall in question. Of course a breakfronts and their ilk don't always have doors and even when they do, they might slide instead of swing.

Anyway, Nicola knows how to measure and will surely measure anything she considers.)

I would want to see other walls as well because a dining room often calls for a bit of symmetry--what will be in the other corners of the room?

Okay nix the floating shelves.

Thank you for all these ideas and suggestions!

We definitely want to actually store books -- not just decorative items.

Attaching some bigger pictures of the whole room as you can see. It's also all open plan to the living room and kitchen so want it to all tie together!

The house is edwardian, built in 1906 I think.

Also -- my parents had this in their house and I loved it -- something like this? but how to make it work with the crown moulding??

we're thinking of two of these :

Did you look at the article I gave you? It has a built in almost identical to the one you say you loved in your parents' house and in the photo it is situated into a traffic corner like yours is.

I can't tell how secure the ladder-like shelves you posted would be. If you have kids, think about that and whether even books might get knocked off the shelves. Also measure what would be the gap between the back end of the shelving and the wall, and think about whether most of your books would be sliding back too far.

Measure too to see if you might need 3 of those to fill the space nicely.

Now that I see the rest of your house of course I think you should buy the fabulous standalone antique case I posted. But you might not have the depth or the desire for it. But I'd be interested in a comparison cost between the antique and the built in

I don't often think this, but in your dining room, I think this table runner would be nice to have

https://www.cb2.com/nava-black-and-white-patterned-table-runner-14x120/s584201

Yes, I have to agree that the beautiful antique might overwhelm your room and you should stick with white. But how about these?

https://www.dwr.com/storage-shelving-bookcases/pier-library/100337188.html?lang=en_US&gclid=CjwKCAjw29ymBhAKEiwAHJbJ8tLryI68D6Uj9A1N-vvkqQ5PWMRicFusBHNHDS7Rj-waCrkW9t0yRxoCK9MQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&sku=100337189

Can't be sure, but I think this would be nice in your space and would give you the same amount of shelf space (using the top as well) as the 2 narrow pieces you are contemplating. You would need to put art over it, but I think it would look nice that way given the windows. It would look nice with your california print

https://www.chairish.com/product/11090853/antique-painted-french-open-bookcase

thank you all! i think the trick is to get something where the bottom shelf hits above the baseboard so it doesn't run into it... we are going to try the cb2 and stay away from built ins for now.

A lot of bookcases have notched back sides for baseboards--even IKEA's do (did?).

Please do post photos when you get these set up. I'm sure they'll be nice. And if you change your mind later, you can. :)

Great spot for your books now that we see the room. So pretty.

Do you want real book shelves or shelves on which you will place a few books plus decorative things? When I see most shelves here on Houzz, it is with only a few books and lots of stuff, following the “rule” of 1/3s, or some such thing. If you want a place to have your books lined up for use (not spine to wall, or arranged according to color) I suggest good, solid book shelves, purpose built for your space. Floor to ceiling. But having books of all kinds, paper backs, coffee table style books, hard backed books that close to your kitchen and dining room, isn’t terribly good for your books. They can absorb odors. If you want shelving for more decorative purposes, I get it. The ones suggested here will work.

True, steam too...you could get a nice big free standing bookcase with glass doors. Sets of multiple glass doors would be narrower for each door to open.

We did it! Update for all those who helped me figure this out :-)

Glad to see books on shelves, spines out, to be read! Good for you!

Looks great! It doesn't overwhelm the space and doesn't obscure the pattern in the wood flooring.