Suggestions for Choosing the Shelving for your Office

To choose the best shelving for the office, you won't do better than to look for something that's both functional and decorative, that will make your office a tidier place.

Choosing the shelving for your office isn’t always an easy task. Above all the huge quantity of available options can make it seem like you’ll never find exactly the right shelving unit. A wide range of colors, shapes, materials, and prices can make you waver between several options.

Shelving units or bookshelves are common in the home and office. They help you to keep your things organized and at the same time are a decorative item.

In today’s article, you will be able to read some suggestions or tips to help you so that choosing the best shelving for your office isn’t too complicated.

1. Where should you put the shelving in your office?

One of the first questions that you should ask yourself when choosing is this. Where do you want to put your shelving unit? The material you choose for the shelving unit will depend on if it’s going to be inside or outside. For example, a bookshelf that will be going on the terrace or on a balcony will need to be made of a material that will bear changes in humidity and possibly even a bit of rain.

If it’s going to be inside the house, it could be made of other materials such as MDF or timber. In this article, these suggestions mainly apply to shelving units that are going to be inside. It’s important to know the dimensions of the space you have available for your shelving unit and to have that clearly in mind when you go to buy it. Keep in mind the size of your bookshelf, the color you want, the type, etc.

Depending on the style of your home office, your shelving unit should keep with the general theme. Remember that it shouldn’t just be a place to store stuff, but also an item that should contribute to the decor. It should match the rest of the room.

2. What function should it carry out?

Successfully choosing the right shelving for the office also involves thinking about its function. That is to say, what are you going to use the bookshelf for? This is important especially when you are looking for a shelving unit made from suitable materials that will carry out the job you want it to.

For example, if you’re just going to use the bookshelf as a place to hold small items, things that don’t weigh much, you won’t need to buy a particularly strong unit. If, on the contrary, you want to keep heavy books there, you’ll need a different type of bookshelf.

There are different types of materials available that shelving units are made of, for example:

• Melamine covered MDF: this is a versatile material and the greatest advantage is that it’s available in a variety of colors.
• Solid pine: this is pretty sturdy, but not for bookshelves full of heavy books as it has a tendency to bend with a lot of weight. You can find unpainted and even unvarnished solid pine bookshelves that would give a natural, rustic touch to your office. You can adapt these to almost any style of office decor.
• Steel: these are lightweight, very strong and easy to clean shelving units. They would be perfect for industrial style decor or even be practical for use in the garage.

Depth

Knowing what you’re going to use the bookshelf for will help you to choose the correct depth of the shelves:

• Up to 25 cm deep: ideal for storing DVDs, CDs, photo frames, etc.
• 25-30 cm deep: perfect for books, folders, and slightly bigger pot plants.
• More than 30 cm deep: larger, heavier objects such as sound systems.

Thickness

The thickness of the shelves depends on what you’re going to use the shelving unit for. Generally, you can find shelves with a thickness of 15 to 30 mm. The thickness you choose will be closely related to the durability and stability of the bookshelf. And, the longer the individual shelves are, the thicker they need to be to bear weight without bending.

3. Budget

When choosing the shelving for your office, you should also look for the right price. In the world of interior decor, it’s very important to have a budget in mind and establish priorities so that when you’re buying something you don’t spend more than you need to. That’s why, before running to the furniture shop, set your  budget.

Obviously, the material of your shelving unit, as well as its size and design, will directly affect the price. Therefore, you should know that solid timber bookshelves tend to be more expensive. The cheaper ones are made of MDF, melamine or plastic.

Modular shelving units are also an excellent option and are an alternative to bookshelves made to size. These are thin, upright shelving units, where you can buy several of the same units and stand them together to create one larger, custom width bookshelf. You can combine them in terms of how they will be most useful and on the space you have available.

With these three simple suggestions, you will be able to hit the mark exactly the next time you go to buy shelving for the office. Also, make sure you take into account the decor style you already have when buying your shelving unit and when decorating it. As we mentioned at the start, there is a wide range of shelving units available in different sizes, models, and of course, styles.