At least I'm not planning to put the books backwards on the shelves :)

I would also put in a false angle to match the one that’s there and wrap the shelves around to both or neither. In any case I would leave off the words, the look will age faster than beautiful cabinetry.

What kind of furniture do you plan for the room? if you wanted to limit the length of the bookshelves you could tuck in a little table, lamp and reading chair.

Why don't you just have Dutch Wood make the books while they are at it.

Beagles, there is a large french door to the right of the bookcase. The door frame and muntins match the wood of the bookcases.

Do you have a furniture plan? I think you should make one before deciding on cabinets. It’s the tail wagging the dog. Are you going to use the room or just walk by it? Can you post a floor plan? Just because you can get discounted cabs doesn’t mean you should. I think the wainscoting is very pretty and sophisticated. While the built in word art is, ugh sorry, childish and cheap.

Could you have them die into the wall, similar to how our kitchen cabinets are?

I have a new dream job now: Buying books for people starting libraries in vacation homes!

Glad you are not facing them backwards.

Is it because the OP included this query in multiple topics (not only HD Convos) that the tone of response is getting off track a bit? With a new house necessarily comes a new library.

@Kendrah - Not sure that would be a worthwhile endeavor since in a vacation home people will often leave books they bring with them and if it is just owner occupied I'd want to buy my own books as the books I own matter to me. I love the ones where you can swap books. I don't like dragging ones I read back home, but like when they say take one and leave another in its place. Found some gems to read that way. I think it is great the OP wants to put together a library where there will be books to read, because even though I also mostly read on kindle now - less weight to drag around, sometimes it is just nice to be able to read a real book.

What if you thought of the cabinet on the angled wall as a focal point instead of a problem? You'd use decorative glass doors on just that one cabinet. Then you'd use tall bookcase cabinets on both walls and extended them one-half to two-thirds of the way down the walls. For the remaining wall space to the corners, you'd use low cabinets. All of the cabinet bottoms would have doors, providing cohesion.

You'd have open wall space above the low cabinets so it will feel less closed in than a wall of cabinets. On those walls you'd display art, perhaps with picture lights. Art could really make that room--most sophisticated home libraries do include art.

Would you "bookcase" all 3 walls or would that make the room too small? I'm not sure what the std depth is for a shelf.

I think bookcasing all 3 walls would leave me with too little space. What I'm leaning towards now is book-casing the back wall opposite the window and continuing the cabinet around the angle where it is and creating a fake angle on the other wall as was suggested up thread. So basically it would be straight with two curved ends around the arches and then would stop at the flat walls.

Eileen I'm not sure exactly what you mean. So the bookcases would taper down?

I had no idea people would be so againt bookcases used for decoration. I think books are pretty. I like to have them around my home. I want my kids to grow up in a house full of books. It makes me a bit sad that I read on my Kindle all the time, but the convenience of having so many books is too enticing not to --plus, I'm often reading while breastfeeding a toddler so I don't have two hands free.

No. On the angled wall, you'd have a cabinet with glass doors. Next to that, one or two two tall bookcase cabinets. Next to that cabinet, going to the corner, a low cabinet. Repeat on the other side. All would have solid doors at the bottom.

I built a wall unit in my family room to house the TV and have shelves for my decorations. I have things that have been in the family for a long time and items I collected over my lifetime. Why shouldn't I display them where I can see them every day!

I think you are overthinking that angled wall. You can have the unit just go all the way across and you just end up with a "traingle" shelf at the angled wall. I have an angled wall in the secondary mudroom. The built-in was done straight across. Here are photos showing the front and the inside ... see the triangle shelves? Mine has doors, but you can make it pretty and put some decor on those shelves.

How long is that angled wall, and how deep will the bookcases be, and how wide will the side trim be? Here’s what I’m thinking:

The bookcases on the long walls, because they will be protruding from the wall, they are basically making the room smaller. Where will their corners meet, in that angled part? If you plan it right, they could potentially make the room a rectangle, by meeting at their ends, and the angle disappears. Kind of like what is done here, where a chase or something is in the corner, behind the bookcases.

Hmm, I take it back, this stock bookcase set has a narrow corner bookcase in the middle there. Pretend it’s solid while I go look for a better image of what I mean.

okay, maybe this, though again it’s stock. But think, what’s behind in the corner? Use the good ol’ Asquared plus Bsquared equals Csquared to figure it out. What’s the square root of the length of that angled wall?

Since you are doing custom cabinets, you can take them to the ceiling, or just trim up to the ceiling, to make it look like there’s no angle there. Your cabinet maker can advise.

This would work Especially well if you plan somewhat deeper cabinets on the bottom, and shallower shelves above. That’s what I plan for my LR bookcases, so I can store the rotating seasonal/mood display items right there in the cabinets.

This is what I mean, beagles, but extended the entire length of both walls and configured to meet your needs.

Remodeled Family Room · More Info

Is there going to be a sofa or a desk or a reading chair? Where would those go? I love a desk in a vacation home. Someone always has to do a half a day of work while on vacation and it’s nice if they have a separate room to do it in.

I also think maybe you should do a quick floorplan to see how furniture will fit. It’s possible the bookcase can be balanced with furniture, art and floor lamps or accessories.

I am thinking an antique secretary, a couch, a small coffee table or ottoman, and a reading chair.

To be clear, while this is a vacation home, we spend about 4 - 6 months a year in it and I'm a writer who works from home so I do work all the time. Rarely at a desk, but I need a nice office space.

Here's a very rough sketch-up of what I'm tentatively thinking based on these suggestions... It's done with photoshop AI so not great :)

Would it be better to have the cabinets following the angle as I've done here or to do what was suggested above (which I like the idea of) and make the angle disappear?

I'm not sure exactly on the length. This isn't a huge room. I'm not there so unfortunately I can't measure.

I think your idea of a wall of shelves across from the window makes sense and have it die into the angles.

Consider having a few shelves angled upward with a ledge so you can display art and other picture books open. It is a great way to get to enjoy illustrations. Our cabinetmaker did that for a case in our living room. If we ever don’t want it, the piece can be removed and it goes back to a regular shelf.

I’ve found the best way to get kids to enjoy books is to have them in every room, especially a room where they hang out a lot. Get them involved in picking out books too.

I would angle both ends, as ridding the room of the angle would make the room smaller. Sofa floating on window wall, pair of chairs in front of bookcases. This evens out the room visually (weight) and provides easy access to the books. Also, the sofa would have to be out in the room enough to get behind/to the books, making the room even smaller. Ottoman instead of table.

Wrapping the bookcase around the angle gives it a cozy feel. I like how the sofa faces the window. Will this be your office too? Do you need a desk?

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice! Very helpful! I do not need a desk, I don't tend to work at one. I'll try out both furniture arrangements, as well as have Jason draw up both Eileen's suggestion and the full-wall idea to see which seems to fit better. I think I will inquire about soem of those angled shelves as well.

Thank you so much for all the help!

The cleanest solution is probably the one you posted where you angle the opposite corner to match. Since you don't need to shelve a lot of books, maybe you'd enjoy a center cabinet with glass doors. I know you love glass cabinets. Then you wouldn't need the antique secretary.

Be sure to pull the electrical outlets out to the new baseboards, and maybe even run electric up the shelves. A lamp on the shelves will look so warm, when you don’t want all the lights on.

First thought: I agree with the others above who say, build the bookcases flat across /let the angle die into the bookcases. But that does deprive you of a nice angle, and it's not my favorite idea.

I'd prefer closed cabinets on the bottom level, and I'd use the space for board games. Board games and books go together, and I'd think they'd be quite welcome in a vacation home -- but I don't really like looking at the mismatched boxes.

Now, what I really would do: Thinking outside the box -- don't start thinking I'm a book hater. I'm a retired literature teacher, and I real several books every week. Anyway, outside the box thinking:

This is a vacation home. You read Kindle books. You'll have to buy books for the shelves, which means they'll be ... well, PROPS. When I go on vacation, I tend to think about what I want to read and bring it with me. I wouldn't remember what books are waiting. So I wonder about the practicality of these books.

Instead of building in shelves, why not consider book wallpaper? It'll cost less, it'll fit into the angle without any problem, and it won't remove any space from your room.

Another thought: I can't seem to get a picture to save/post today, but please Google "Sofa set into bookshelves". I've seen these pictures on Pinterest, though they're not common. The idea is to set your sofa (maybe a loveseat for this room) against the wall and "frame it" with bookselves. It'd result in smaller bookshelves, but you don't really need a lot of shelf for this space.

One last thought, bouncing off BPath's thought about electrical outlets and lamps: I'd like to see that outlet attached to a switch. It's easier to walk by the room and hit a switch than to enter the room and turn on/off the lamp.

“This is a vacation home. You read Kindle books. You'll have to buy books for the shelves, which means they'll be ... well, PROPS. When I go on vacation, I tend to think about what I want to read and bring it with me. I wouldn't remember what books are waiting. So I wonder about the practicality of these books.”

Exactly.

Theresa, I love bookshelf wallpaper. The first house I grew up in, a mid-century rambler with the typical long bedroom hall, had bookshelf wallpaper at the end of the hall, which probably seeded my love for bookshelves in general. And I was recently in a house where a short hallway with closets on both sides, had the closet doors covered in bookshelf wallpaper. It was absolutely wonderful, like walking through the stacks at the library or yiur favorite indie bookstore.

It doesn't appear that the room will accommodate all the furniture in your photoshop mock-up, unless you get smaller, compact apartment-style furniture.

It's a small room. If you want the bookshelves to be the focal point and willing to lose square footage to them in such a small space, then make them grand. I would start them at the fireplace and wrap them around to the window. This will allow room for an area rug and a reading chair, possibly 2.

Ebooks are fine, but there’s also the comfort factor of physical books. Seeing the titles you loved, or hope to love when you read them, books that belonged to someone you loved and bring fond memories, and, especially if you are a guest, spying a book on your host’s shelf and being drawn to reading it. I have had some memorable reading experiences that way, Even books you have because the spine, the title font, the artwork, are lovely and speak to you.

My grandmother’s den had bookshelves just deep enough to hold the books, and the bottom third or so was an inch or to deeper with cabinet doors. I don’t think I ever knew what was behind those doors, because of course there were two chairs and an end table in front of them. But I borrowed (and returned) several titles from the shelves.

I’m imagining some fine children’s and eventually (sooner than you think!) young adult literature on the shelves, here as opposed to a playroom, because some books are for reading quietly and contemplating (even grade schoolers contemplate!).

Although I was an avid reader from a young age, I never read the classics. The books I read came from the library and I didn't pick out the classics. I'd do much better on Jeopardy if I had had easy access to them at home. :-D I see you can buy beautiful leather-bound vintage sets on etsy at very little cost, which would help fill in those shelves.

My favorites are the ones I pick up at the library book sale, and estate sales of older homes, and the church rummage sale, especially where someone is clearing their parents’ home. The leather-bound are handsome, but I do love a pre-read book with interesting artwork. (My grandmother had subsribed me to a Reader’s Digest series for young readers. I still have them, and am finally reading the classics I didn’t feel like reading when I was a kid, and the condensed version is fine for my attention span, and also now reading the UNcondensed versions of the condensed ones I liked back then. The library sale doesn’t accept RD editions.):

Going off of @TheresaPeterson and @bpath's ideas: found a picture of the sofa nestled into the bookshelves. And what about mounting sconces on the shelves, as long as you're having them custom made? Or Ballard makes a cool light for shelves.

Books as props makes my stomach churn. The Strand Bookstore in Manhattan has a service that will sell you books by the feet and in custom color combinations to use as bookshelf decor. Yikes.

I'm an author. I love reading. But, I keep only my all time favorites that would be hard to find in a library. After I finish a book I drop it in one of the free library boxes in my neighborhood. Or, it is a library book to start with.

I really loathe the idea of reading on a Kindle. But my eye site is declining and the ability to enlarge print is tempting.

Just a quick comment on that Ballard bookshelf light. The switch is on the cord which is behind the lamp. So you have to pull the lamp out to turn it on/off unless you have it on a smart switch. A definite design flaw in an otherwise great idea.

@jsk good point and I wonder why they did it that way! Seems like you'd definitely want it connected to a switch.

Thanks for the additional suggestions. I don't want bookshelf wallpaper. I want books :)

As I mentioned above, I enjoy having and living around books. I appreciate them as being beautiful even though I do not read physical books any more I do still read a LOT and I love the way books make a room look and feel. Here's the bookshelf in the study in my main house. We painstakingly collected these books all at used book sales over many years. I love them and I sit in there often. I did not buy them buy the yard and I won't in my vacation house either!

I would like to add lighting, but there are no switches in the room. I will need to ask my contractor about the complexity of adding them. I would assume I could add lights to the top of the cabinetry because there are outlets behind there so running the electrical shouldn't be too hard ? But I'd have to have a way of turning them on (or have them controlled on a timer). I'm not sure what's involved in that but I will look into it for sure!

Kendrah The kindle really does make it easier to read anywhere, including the bathtub. I am a writer for a living and also a huge reader and I read as much as my two small children allow. I adore having 500 books with me on my Kindle at all times. I will not read on a tablet because it doesn't feel like a "book" to me but a Kindle does. If you are having trouble with your eyesight, I'm sure it would make reading much more enjoyable.

How could you loathe the idea of reading on a Kindle? They’re wonderful!! What is worse than turning the page of a library or borrowed book and finding a hair or something sticky??? So gross. And we read at the beach, by the pool, etc and the Kindle can take a beating and still work great, and the borrowed books read on it get returned in impeccable condition.🙂

I think you are bring PA down to FLA. Wainscoting with faux panel applications...ah, nope.

The waincoting came with the house. I didn’t do it.

Wrap it around it will be FABULOUS!

" But that does deprive you of a nice angle",

My general comment from a design standpoint is this:

Random angles cut out of one corner of a room are rarely "nice", especially when they are not balanced by another one, or something else. They work or make sense only under limited circumstances and this room is not one of them. Doing things like this for "architectural interest" is one of the sets of Emperor's New Clothes foisted on homebuyers by designers of McMansion-ish houses with amorphously shaped open plan interiors starting in the early 1990s and a lot of people bought into it.

If it were "nice", there wouldn't be such a problem figuring out what to do with it, here.

I agree with palimpsest completely on that. There were so many odd angles and arches and stupid "designer" nonsense in this house. We bought the house because of the view and location, in spite of the house not because of it, and are doing a gut remodel. We've torn almost all of the weird stuff out and straightened almost all the dumb angles out, but this one angle was not able to be straightened because of the fireplace on the other side.

You’re doing a beautiful job, beagle. It’s going to be great!

Beagles - The pic you showed of your other home and the books you collected. Help me understand. I'm just not sure if I have this right. You purchased the books at yard sales. You do not read any of the books. How do you choose which ones to buy? Are they authors you like, books you have read in the past, or do you buy them more because of the physical beauty of the spines or the colors?

Do your kids read on Kindle or actual books?

I only recently discovered that books on a Kindle do in fact look very different than books on an ipad and was pleasantly surprised. The real question: Which hurts less - falling asleep while reading and getting hit in the face with a Kindle or with a paperback? :)

Do you still enjoy shopping in bookstores or do you do all of your book shopping online?

Are they authors you like, books you have read in the past, or do you buy them more because of the physical beauty of the spines or the colors?

Those are all good reasons to buy a book!

All of the above reasons for buying books. We got some really neat old Nancy Drew and Hardy boys that are beautifully bound that I read as a kid. All the classics, Shakespeare, etc. Some because they are pretty. Some because they have old messages inside that are neat to read. Some because of the books themselves.

My kids are 2 and 4. They read board books and The Gruffalo. They have their own extensive library of real books at child height :) When they are bigger, I don't care what they read or how they read it as long as they read. I'll buy them books, a kindle, comics, anything, just to encourage a love of reading.

I don't buy any books online (except digital of course). I like to see and hold real books.