Tavistock Library Wall London

The Tavistock Library Wall is a wall of books with nothing in the way: an open grid of pale oak shelving from floor to ceiling, across the whole wall and over the doorway, standing on a run of drawers.

The finish is a pale oak woodgrain throughout, so the grid reads as one piece of joinery rather than a row of bookcases, and the drawers at the base have no handles to break the line.

How it works: the uprights run floor to ceiling in 18mm board on a solid 18mm back fixed to the wall; the shelves are fixed and dowelled into the uprights, so every joint braces the grid and a long run stays square; the header over the doorway is carried by the uprights either side; and the drawer plinth runs on full-extension soft-close runners with push-to-open catches.

Designed around the books

A library wall works when the shelves are planned by what goes on them. Paperbacks, hardbacks, art books and box files all want a different height, and a grid that ignores that wastes a third of the wall. The bay widths and the shelf heights are set at the design visit, to the wall and to the collection going on it.

• Open grid from floor to ceiling, wall to wall
• Carried over the doorway on a header
• Fixed shelves dowelled into 18mm uprights
• Bays set to book height, a taller bay for art books
• Push-to-open drawer plinth on full-extension runners
• Solid 18mm back fixed to the wall
• Pale oak woodgrain, banded on every edge
• Scribed to the skirting, the ceiling and the door frame

Designed for the room: bays can close with doors or lit glass, the plinth can become cupboards, a bay can take a desk or a drinks shelf, and the grid can stop short of the ceiling to leave a cornice.

Built for everyday use: the uprights and shelves are 18mm board banded on every edge, the back is a solid 18mm panel fixed to the wall so the bookcase carries its own structure, and the bay widths are kept to what a loaded shelf carries without bowing.

Manufactured in our Wembley workshop

The Tavistock is cut in our HA9 Wembley factory to the wall it will stand on. The beam saw cuts each upright and shelf to its own size, the CNC drills the shelf and hinge positions, and the industrial edge-bander finishes every visible edge, so the run leaves the workshop as one matched set.

The wall, the ceiling, the skirting, the cornice, the chimney breast or the doorway, and the position of the sockets are all measured at your design visit, and the run is scribed to the room on installation.

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