Bookshelf and Display Planning Checklist

Measure the tallest spine in each group you own rather than a typical one, because a single run of oversized volumes decides the spacing for everything around it.

Shelving spaced for ordinary books leaves the large ones lying on their sides from the moment it is finished.

Note the deepest items going onto the shelves, such as ring binders, boxed sets, board games or art books, and say whether they need a deeper shelf of their own.

One uniform depth either wastes space behind paperbacks or leaves the deep items overhanging the front edge.

List anything that has to lie flat rather than stand upright, including large format books, loose prints and folded drawings, and note how tall each stack becomes.

Flat stacks need a clear gap above them that nobody allows for when spacing is described only in terms of book heights.

Measure the total run your books occupy along their present shelves, and note how much of that run is doubled up, lying sideways or stacked on the floor.

A run length is the one figure a maker can work from directly, and it exposes how much shelving is genuinely missing.

Say honestly whether the collection is still growing, and note how much empty shelf you want left over once the work is finished rather than filling it immediately.

Shelving sized to today is full on arrival, and the overflow returns to the floor within a short while.

List the objects that will share the shelving, such as records, files, framed pictures and baskets, since these usually set the spacing more than the books do.

Most bookcases end up holding a mixed collection, and the non-book items are the ones left out of the brief.

Note how far each shelf would run without a support beneath or beside it, and put that distance to the maker as a question about the material they propose.

Span and material together decide how a shelf behaves under load, which is why the question has to be asked rather than assumed.

How a proposed shelf behaves under a packed run of books is for the maker to answer, and never something to settle by looking at a sample.

Point out which shelves will carry books or records rather than light objects, because those runs are the ones that bow first and the maker needs to know which they are.

A run intended for ornaments and a run intended for reference books are rarely built the same way.

Decide whether you want adjustable shelves or fixed ones, and name the groups that would suffer if the spacing could never change again.

Adjustability is usually decided by how the piece is constructed, so it is a question raised early rather than a later preference.

Ask what happens at the top and bottom of the bookcase, where a plinth, a fixed shelf or a cornice often stiffens the whole piece as well as finishing it.

Owners sometimes ask for these to be left off for a lighter look without knowing what else they were doing.

Ask whether the shelving has a solid back, since a back panel often does more than hide the wall and changes how the piece stands and sits against it.

An open back can be the right answer, but it should be a decision made with the maker rather than an omission nobody discussed.

Raise the question of how a tall run is held back against the wall, and ask both the maker and whoever fixes it what the wall behind will take.

Tall storage against a wall usually involves restraint of some kind, and that depends entirely on what the wall is built from.

Fixings into a wall, and whether tall furniture needs restraint against tipping, are matters for the installer to establish on site.

Note which part of the proposed wall gets direct sun and at what part of the day, because spines and paper on that end fade and cockle before anything else does.

Fading is uneven and permanent, and it is the reason one end of a run looks tired while the rest looks new.

Note any radiator, heat source or pipe run below or beside the shelving, and say what you would not want sitting in the warm air rising off it.

Warm dry air rising into a bookcase affects bindings, adhesives and anything with moisture in it.

Whether shelving can sit above or beside a heat emitter, and what clearance is needed, is a question for the heating installer.

Say whether the wall is an external one, and note whether anything on it currently feels cold to the hand or shows marks behind existing furniture.

Books packed against a cold wall with no air movement behind them are a common source of musty smells.

Cold patches, staining or damp on a wall should be assessed by a qualified professional before shelving is planned against it.

Consider whether any air can move behind a bookcase set tight to a wall, and raise that with the maker if the wall is one you have doubts about.

A small gap or a ventilated plinth detail is a construction decision, not something to arrange afterwards.

Find out what occupies the floor above that wall, since a bathroom, tank or flat roof overhead changes which shelf you would give to anything you could not replace.

Owners rarely think upwards when choosing a wall, and it is among the simplest questions in this whole list to answer.

Note how much dust settles in that room, and decide honestly whether you will clean open shelves or would rather some groups sat behind closed fronts.

Dust load varies enormously between rooms, and open shelving in a dusty room is a standing commitment by somebody.

Decide what occupies the band at eye level as you enter the room, since that height is read as the display and everything else is read as storage.

Deciding this deliberately stops the most used group being pushed to the least visible shelf.

Say how you genuinely arrange books, whether by subject, by author, by size or by appearance, because that changes how much continuous run is needed.

Arranging by subject needs long uninterrupted runs, while arranging by size tolerates being broken by uprights.

Note the habit of standing photographs and objects in front of books, and decide whether the shelf depth should allow for it or discourage it.

Depth that allows objects in front also allows books to disappear behind them, so the decision cuts both ways.

Decide whether framed pictures will lean against the back of the shelves, and measure their height, because leaning frames need a taller gap than books do.

This is the most common reason a finished bookcase has one shelf that cannot be used as intended.

Say whether a television, speakers, a router or a games console will sit within the shelving, and note where their cables would have to run and terminate.

Equipment needs air, cable routes and access to the back, none of which can be added once the joinery is closed up.

Decide what occupies the lowest shelves, and where children use the room, note which groups you want within their reach and which you would rather they were not.

Low shelves are the ones children use, so they are worth allocating rather than filling with whatever is left over.

Decide what goes above comfortable reach, and accept that anything at that height will be looked at rather than used regularly.

Counting high shelves as everyday capacity is how a brief quietly overstates what the room will provide.

If a step or a ladder is expected, note where it would be kept and whether the floor in front stays clear enough for anyone to use it.

A step stored in another room is a step that will not be fetched, and the top shelves become ornamental.

Whether a ladder or step suits the room, and how any ladder fitting is supported, is a question for the supplier and installer.

Measure the clear floor in front of the shelving and note what furniture would stand there, since a sofa back or chair often blocks the lowest shelves entirely.

Blocked low shelves become dead volume, and the loss is rarely noticed until the room is arranged.

Note where the room door lands when fully open and where any window reveal or shutter falls, and whether either would take the end off a proposed run.

Ends of runs are lost to swinging doors and shutters more often than to any measured shortage of wall.

Note whether the room lighting falls onto the spines or leaves them in shadow, and raise lighting within the shelving before any joinery is closed up.

Reading spines needs light on them, and provision inside joinery has to be planned before it is made.

Consider how the shelves will be dusted, and note anything that would sit so tightly that it must be lifted out before the shelf can be cleaned.

Tight fits look precise and quietly make cleaning a task that gets skipped.

Decide whether the shelving has to be able to move house with you, because that one answer separates a piece of furniture from fitted joinery.

Owners often ask for fitted work and then discover late that they wanted something they could take.

Sight along the wall and the floor for bows, bulges and out of square corners, and mention what you find rather than leaving the maker to discover it on arrival.

Fitted work has to be scribed to whatever it meets, and surprises there change the work and the appearance.

Note the skirting, picture rail, cornice and any pipe boxing on that wall, and ask what is proposed where the shelving meets each of them.

The junction with existing trim is the detail that makes fitted shelving look considered or improvised.

Measure both alcoves separately if you are shelving either side of a chimney breast, because they are rarely the same width and rarely square.

Assuming symmetry is the classic alcove mistake, and it is only discovered when a made piece will not go in.

Anything cut into, fixed to or hung from a chimney breast should be discussed with a qualified professional before it is planned.

Decide how much disturbance to the wall and floor you are willing to accept, and note whether the arrangement should come out without redecorating.

Removability is a decision to record now, because it affects how the piece is fixed rather than how it looks.

Say whether existing bookcases are staying in the room, and note their heights and depths so a new run does not sit awkwardly beside them.

Matching or deliberately contrasting with what stays is easier to plan than to correct.

Note anything old, signed, inherited or otherwise difficult to replace, and decide whether it belongs on open shelving in a room whose conditions swing about.

Naming these items early usually changes where they sit rather than how the shelving looks.

If records or other media are going onto the shelving, give the maker the run length they occupy and note that they are heavy and are kept upright.

Media collections are dense and unforgiving of a shelf that flexes, so the maker needs to know they are coming.

Note the items sensitive to light and moisture, such as photographs, newsprint and older bindings, and decide where in the room the conditions are steadiest.

Conditions vary across a single room, and the steadiest wall is often not the one with the pleasantest outlook.

Guidance on caring for or conserving fragile material belongs with a suitably qualified conservator or specialist supplier.

Decide whether fragile items go into boxes or sleeves on the shelf, and measure the containers rather than the items that will go inside them.

Protective containers add height and depth that is missed when only the contents were measured.

Note whether small children or pets use the room, and decide which groups should sit behind a front rather than within easy reach.

It is easier to allocate a closed section now than to retrofit doors onto a finished run.

If anything on the shelves is valuable, write down the question of what your insurer needs to know about it, and put that question to them directly.

Keeping the question visible in your notes stops it being forgotten once the shelving is finished and filled.

What is covered, and what an insurer expects of you, is a matter for your insurer and nothing here should be read as an answer.