Cozy Custom Home Libraries
Your literature collection deserves to live on something more compelling than honey oak cabinets from 2004. The feeling of sitting on a cold winter morning in the library of your dreams is unmatched - so do it your way, not the big box way.
Worthy display for your extensive collection
A built-in solves the weight and the display wall at once. Anchored to the structure, nothing leans and nothing sags. It also takes the room to the ceiling, which is where most of the display space was hiding all along.
A wall of paperbacks and a wall of oversized art books are not the same wall. The depths differ, the spacing differs, the whole plan differs. So we draw yours around what you actually own, what you want to display, then build and install it white-glove.
How it comes together
Your library should be as unique as your collection. Tall, short, art, or fiction, here are a few things to consider for your new library.
Floor-to-ceiling
A full wall from floor to ceiling line. The most room a library wall can hold, and the option most people talk themselves out of before they see it drawn.
Adjustable shelving
Shelves that move on a drilled system, so the spacing follows the collection as it changes. Nine inches for paperbacks, more for the art books that never fit anywhere.
Closed bases
Doors along the bottom for the things a library gathers that are not books. Files, boxes, the games. It also gives the wall a clean line at the floor.
Reading nooks
A window seat with storage underneath, shelving to either side, set into the deep window wells these houses tend to have and the view they tend to frame.
We build libraries for:
Every day luxury for Durango and Southwest Coloradans
Real collections
Adjustable shelves and deeper lower bays hold the paperbacks and the fourteen-inch art books on the same wall, none of it stacked on the floor.
Fireplace walls
Shelving up both sides of the chimney with a shorter run over the mantel. One of the layouts we draw most.
Rooms with windows
Shelving that frames a window on three sides turns a blank wall into the reason you sit in that room.
Working offices
A library wall doubles as reference storage and closed files, so the office reads as a study, not a supply closet.
High ceilings
A ladder on a rail reaches the top shelves on the walls that run past arm’s reach.
Mixed Collections
Depth drawn to the books keeps the paperbacks flush at the front and gives the oversized volumes a shelf that actually fits them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you have a showroom?
We have a small showroom at our production facility in Durango at 190 Turner Drive Units B & H,
Durango. We come to you for your design consultation, but if you’re interested in seeing where the magic happens, or if you just want to get an in-person look at some of our beautiful finish and accessories here in-store, we’d love to show you around.Do you install library ladders?
We haven’t done it yet but we’re itching to try. We have the suppliers all lined up we’re just waiting for the right home Smithsonian to work with!
What finishes are available?
Every material we offer has more than 50 variations. Wood grains, whites, warmer off-whites, colors, and all the hardware you could imagine. If you want to see the whole menu come on down to our showroom on Turner Drive in Durango or book a free design consultation and we’ll come to you.
What are your closets and cabinets made of?
High-quality thermally fused melamine — hard, non-porous, easy to clean, and stable in dry Colorado air, where cheaper boards swell or peel. Cabinet boxes are built on plywood. The finish holds up for decades.
Can you build around a fireplace or window?
That is one of the most common libraries we do. Shelving up both sides of a fireplace, or wrapping a window on three sides. We measure the real opening and build to it, and it comes out feeling like a full integrated feature wall instead of a random bookcase.
Do you serve Telluride, Pagosa Springs, and Ouray?
Yes. We travel throughout Southwest Colorado for consultations and installations — Telluride, Pagosa Springs, Ouray, Cortez, Silverton, Bayfield, Farmington, and the surrounding communities.
What does the first step look like?
A designer comes to the house, measures, and talks through what is not working. You see the design before anything is built.
What about a reading nook?
This is our favorite thing to build into a library. What good is a wall of words if you don’t have somewhere to enjoy it. We’d love to discuss your vision for a cozy reading nook for your academic or fanciful endeavors – just book a free design consultation to get started.
Will melamine hold a full wall of books?
Yes, when the spans are drawn for the load. Books are about span and support more than material. We keep the runs short and add a divider where the wall is wide. Our shelving is built over an engineered core that holds its line in the dry air and shifting humidity of a mountain house. Solid hardwood moves with the seasons. This does not.
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