Herbidacious wrote:Perhaps I am being a bit precious but I rather don't want to tinker with the walls too much. It's an Edwardian house complete with bells pushes for servants, dado and picture rails and quite a high skirting board. I realize custom made shelves might need to be fixed to the wall for stability but the less messing with the walls the better.
Not precious at all, makes perfect sense to me. Have you tried looking for bookcases at auction - or even French armoires in Normandy? Nobody wants the latter these days and if they do sell it may be for as little as 100 to 200 Euro.Only a few years ago you'd have had to add at least a 0 to those prices. I even saw an English mahogany break front bookcase, finally down to 150 Euro, withdrawn at auction recently. I was sorely tempted, but we don't really have the storage space and Victorian / Edwardian bookcases are too low for our needs - ceilings a minimum of 3.60m in our flat!!
To answer your initial question: yes we have had book cases made to measure. Initially one for husband's study from scratch and more recently for mine - recovered free-standing shelving from a museum in La Rochelle that had to be adapted - a few extra shelves, but at least they had the height and width - whole wall and full height. But we also use an early 19th century armoire for very large and heavy volumes.
Anyway, if you want more info you can PM me. OH does auctions pretty regularly and we know quite a few of the local brocanteurs. It's not that far from Normandy to the Loire estuary,
All the best
Marja