Most people looking at shelves designs start with a photograph they liked. The better place to start is the wall. A shelf that suits the narrow gap beside a door is the wrong one for under a window, and neither will turn a corner.
So here are shelves designs arranged by the wall you have. Each is a design we make at our workshop at Dagoretti Corner, with its size and its price. Every other design, each with its price, is on our shelving page.
A tall shelf for a narrow wall
The space beside a door, or between a window and the corner, is often about a metre wide. There is no room to go out, so go up.
The Versatile Stack is 98 cm wide, 28 cm deep and 1.63 m tall, with six shelves, in Sage. It is Ksh 28,500. The Two-Tone Stack is the same size in Marine and Coral, also Ksh 28,500.
A low shelf for under a window, or along a long wall
Under a window, or below a picture or a TV, the shelf has to stay low.
The Starter is one unit with two shelves, 98 cm wide and 42 cm tall. It is Ksh 6,500. The Low Console adds a third shelf and stands 72 cm tall, in Charcoal, for Ksh 12,000.
For a long wall, low units stand side by side. Three Starters in a row cover close to three metres.
A shelf that turns a corner
A corner is the part of a room most furniture leaves empty. A shelf that turns it uses both walls.
Dynamic Corner runs 1.27 m along one wall and 1.24 m along the other. It is 1.33 m tall on one side and steps down on the other, in Marine, for Ksh 36,000.
The Grand Corner stands on the same footprint but rises to 1.93 m on both walls, with seven shelves a side. It is Ksh 71,000.
Shelves at two heights
Some walls have a window at one end, or a switch you still need to reach. A shelf at two heights stays tall where there is room and drops where there is not.
- The Stepped Stack, 1.42 m wide and 1.63 m tall, in Sage. Ksh 31,500.
- The Curator's Shelf, 1.42 m wide and 1.63 m tall, in Coral, with shelves at different heights. Ksh 36,500.
- The Terraced Console, 2.39 m wide and 1.03 m tall, in Sage, with a stem for a lamp. Ksh 30,500 (excl. lamp shade).
- The High-Low, a low console beside a tall tower, 1.97 m wide and 1.63 m tall, in Sage. It is 45 cm deep, against 28 cm for most of the range. Ksh 51,000.
A whole wall of shelves
When the wall itself is the point, bays stand side by side. The Double Bay is 1.99 m wide and 1.33 m tall, in Marine, for Ksh 46,000. The Triple Bay is 3.00 m wide at the same height, for Ksh 69,000. At 1.33 m, both leave the wall above free for pictures.
A whole wall does not have to be bought on one day. Our shelves are modular, which means they are made of separate parts that stack together. Start with one bay, and add the next when you are ready.
Why steel, and what the boards are
Many people search for metal shelves, so here is plainly what ours are made of. The frame is steel. The boards are painted MDF, 12 mm thick, and each rests on steel bars beneath it. It is not solid wood, and we do not call it that.
Steel keeps the frame slim, so what you see is what is on the shelves. Each post drops into the one below with no tools, and the shelf comes apart again when you move house. Base units have adjustable feet for a floor that is not level.
There are four colors: Marine, Sage, Charcoal and Coral. A shelf can be one color all the way up, or a mix.
See it on your wall first
Every design above has its own page. Open it on your phone and you can stand the shelf against your wall at its real size, through the camera. Or change any of them in our builder, which prices the shelf as you go.
We deliver within Nairobi, assembled, within a week of payment. Delivery is charged by area, and we tell you the fee before you pay. We provide an ETR invoice.
If the shelf is mainly for books, our post on bookshelf designs in Kenya covers depth, the gap between shelves and what to check before buying.