Book Lover’s Paradise
Making your house feel more like a home can be as simple as adding a bookshelf. Auckland homeowner Clare Goldwater approached Cutshop for help to turn her study into a book-lover’s paradise.
When Clare Goldwater and her husband Sam moved into their Remuera home last year, she knew having a designated space to display their books was a top priority.
Their study was spacious but lacked any real space for storage. A “big, bare wall”, measuring over four metres wide, would provide the perfect solution.
“When we moved in, we knew immediately a bookshelf needed to go in there. We have so many books but just had nowhere to put them.”
After drawing inspiration from Pinterest Clare went shopping in search of a white, wooden bookcase with shelves and drawers, but she couldn’t find a suitable option. When she tried finding someone to design and build it for her but was met with further disappointment.
“The project was too small, and the cabinet makers I approached seemed too busy, I felt like my project was too insignificant for them.”
The couple decided to put the project on hold while they focused on other home renovations, but the absence of a bookshelf soon became hard to ignore.
“My husband was working in the office, surrounded by piles of books and it was just impossible to clean in there.”
A google search led her to Cutshop – she liked the idea of having a bookshelf tailored to her exact requirements but needed help with the installation.
“The house is old, so nothing is perfectly straight. I wasn’t sure about how I would adapt the shelving to fit in the space.”
Cutshop put Clare in touch with Marque Bartlett from Cabinetry Complete to help finalise the design plans and carry out the installation.
“She had the idea, I just had to design it and get the spaces right,” says Marque.
The bookshelf spans the entire length of the wall, and being just over two metres high, it almost touches the ceiling. It’s made from 25mm thick MDF (warm white colour). The fronts of the drawers were purchased separately from Dezignatek.
Tweaks to the original design included utilising the wall behind the unit as a backing and changing the widths of some of the compartments.
"By making a few, small changes we were able to save on materials to keep within the budget. It meant we didn't have to compromise on quality, which included keeping the Blum soft closing hardware.
Clare says she couldn’t have been happier with the end result.
“We really wanted a simple, clean, nice looking white bookshelf and that’s exactly what we got and at a much more reasonable, affordable price than if we had gone down a regular cabinet maker’s route.”
