Coolshelving.
Book Shelves and media storage solutions
This all started several years ago after a house move. I was looking for shelves for my ever expanding CD and book collections and was not impressed by what I saw on the market, hence my adoption of 'Coolshelving' which became a business entity in it's own right.
The original design was inspired by Joseph le Cornus kites designed in the early 1900's. As a kite maker I was fascinated by his simple multiplane kites Proof that design inspiration can come from anywhere.
Most of the shelves I saw were bulky and limited in capacity and downright ugly, and for a decent sized system very expensive.
There was no flexibility in design and little quality work available; bearing in mind that we are not only displaying the contents but also the shelves themselves. This led to me designing my own storage system. I wanted a feeling of light, space and elegance. I wanted to use steel and I chose to braze all of the joints because it is the most simple and clean means of joining metal and the nicest looking. This makes a feature of the materials used rather than hiding them.
Typically I supply my shelving units in soft wood, using Swedish Redwood from sustainable sources, this is protected with three coats of Danish oil and I can stain them to your requirements. I am able to match existing colour schemes to avoid the mismatch of colours seen so often
I can also offer a range of hardwoods, please contact me direct for more details.
Below is a set of book shelves I made for a customer.
The first picture shows them after installation and loaded. I like to use as light a construction as possible to avoid the heaviness typically found in this type of installation.
This is a large installation, 3.6m long to fit in a hallway, and custom spaced vertically to fit the collection.
The next two pictures show the shelves empty with a close up of the structure showing the hand brazed joints. the curved elements on the frames were specified by the customer who chose oak to match his existing furniture
The next image shows how I hide the fixings behind the shelves. I feel very strongly about fixtures and fittings being visible on furnishings. It is a simple matter to tuck them away out of sight out of mind. A small detail but an important one
Here we have before and after shots from a customer with an out of control CD collection. Here we have how he was living before ordering his shelves. Gruesome really but a custom build sorted out his mess and allows room for expansion, with shelves spaced for DVD's and CD's. Another customer who specified the use of oak. A vast improvement with space for around 1200 CD's.
A recent development here. If you don't fancy drilling your walls I can provide a Ladder style of shelving that leans against the wall. Simple to install, stable and can be easily moved. These incorporate a lip along the back to stop the books sliding off and have rubber feet that rest on the wall to protect paint. These were made in Dark Oak to match an existing theme in the apartment.
For shelves made in the style shown I have a fairly simple pricing structure based on overall length of the shelving system when made in softwood. Prices start from £90.00 per metre for a basic set of bookshelves with diagonal braces. So the unit pictured below at 1.2m long with six shelves gives a total length of 7.2m for a cost of £648. Without the diagonal braces e.g. for CD's and books we are looking at £80.00 per metre at a standard depth of 145mmm.
All fixtures and fittings are included in the price quoted
This gives a rough guide for pricing, there are numerous options that can be discussed as part of the commission process. For example Hardwoods, radiused shelf edges, different shapes to shelf ends are all possible
I can make shelving units at any length, and I have a calculator that works out how many supports are needed to avoid problems with saggage. I think a sagging shelf is a truly tragic sight.
The supports can either take the form of the frames illustrated or in the middle of a length can be concealed behind the shelves themselves. This can just be seen in the photograph above
Finally two pictures from another customer. Jute was so pleased with his CD rack that he ordered a HiFi rack to go with it, custom made to fit all his separates. A serious CD collection with space for 3000 CD's. Making nice use of an odd corner
I have many more customer photographs, but I think these give an idea of the type of storage solutions I can provide.
if you would like more information or advice please free to get in touch
Contact Alan Ross
075905 80853
artinsteel1@gmail.com