Blackwell Library Wall London

The Blackwell Library Wall is the fitted bookcase for a room that has to stay a living room. It gives the wall a library: three bays of open shelving, four shelves high and lit under every shelf, standing on a run of six slab cupboards that hide the paperwork, the printer and everything else a household accumulates.

The example shown is in Cashmere Grey throughout, with small knobs on the cupboard doors and the same finish inside the cabinetry, so the open shelves and the closed cupboards read as one piece of furniture rather than a bookcase on top of a sideboard.

How it works: the Blackwell is built from 18mm E1-grade MFC with a solid back, so the shelving and the cupboards below share one structure fixed to the wall. The shelf bays are set to the width of the wall and the height of the ceiling, and an LED strip runs under the front edge of each shelf.

The cupboard doors hang on soft-close hinges, and the run is deep enough for box files and a printer while the shelves above are kept shallow for books.

Designed around the books

A library wall works when the things you look at are in the open and the things you use are behind a door. The Blackwell divides the wall that way.

• Three bays of open shelving, four shelves high
• LED strip lighting under every shelf (warm white, white or yellow)
• Six slab cupboards below for files, equipment and paperwork
• Printer and box-file storage at cupboard depth
• Adjustable shelf heights for books and display
• Cable management provision in the base run
• A desk bay in place of one shelving bay, to order
• Custom mix of open and concealed storage

Designed for the way the room is used: the Blackwell suits a room where reading and working happen at a table, a sofa or a laptop rather than a fixed desk. Books, folders and display sit at eye level on the lit shelves; the base cupboards keep the clutter out of sight at the end of the day.

Keeping the wall organised: the open shelving is planned by height, so a row of paperbacks does not take the space a folder needs, and the base run is divided into cupboards with adjustable shelves so a printer, a shredder and archive boxes each have their own place.

Built for everyday use: 18mm MFC carcasses with a solid 18mm back, so the bookcase carries its own back rather than relying on the plaster behind it, which matters on a wall of shelves that will be loaded with books.

The Blackwell is planned to the width of your wall and the height of your ceiling; the arrangement shown is one room’s, and yours is measured before anything is made.

Manufactured in our Wembley workshop

A bookcase wall is a grid, and a grid shows any error. The Blackwell’s shelf positions are drilled on the CNC in our HA9 Wembley factory so every shelf in every bay sits at the same height across the wall, and the LED channels are routed into the shelf fronts before the finish goes on.

The base cupboards are cut on the beam saw to the same bay widths as the shelving above, so the door joints line through with the shelf uprights. Every visible edge is banded in Cashmere Grey on industrial equipment.

The wall, the ceiling height and the skirting are measured at your design visit, and the run is scribed to them on installation.

Quality you can rely on: your Metro fitted furniture comes with a 10-year guarantee covering parts and labour.