Bookshelf Wallpaper

Faux Bookshelf Wallpaper, a Library Without the Joinery

Bookshelf wallpaper is a wall covering made of books. Rows of spines, stacked paperbacks, leaning hardbacks and the odd plant. The shelves are just there to hold them up.

Giffywalls prints each mural to the exact size of your wall. We have printed these for reading corners, kids' rooms, spare rooms and studio backdrops. The one thing buyers say most often is that the wall makes a room feel lived in straight away.

Books First, Shelves Second

That is what marks this look out. The spines carry the whole design. Their color, their height, the way they lean. Some prints are photo real. Others are painted or drawn by hand. Either way, you are buying a wall of books, not a wall of cabinet work.

The Main Styles

Bright Spines

Reds, blues, greens and yellows all mixed up. This is the cheerful end. It suits a child's room, a playroom or a spare room that needs waking up.

Old Leather

Deep browns, ox blood and faded gold lettering. Warm and quiet. This one suits a snug or a study, and it flatters lamp light better than the bright version.

Painted and Sketched

Loose brush marks and soft edges instead of sharp photos. It reads as art on a wall rather than a trick of the eye. Our artistic wallpaper range runs on the same idea.

Packed and Piled

Books everywhere, stacked flat, jammed in sideways, spilling off the edges. Busy and full of life. Our maximalist wallpaper range is the place to go if you want more of that energy.

Rooms That Suit It

A reading corner is the natural home, which makes this the classic reading nook wallpaper. Put a chair and a lamp in front and the nook is done. Kids' rooms are the next best fit, since a bright spine wall makes reading look fun without a word being said. Our school wallpaper range covers more in that spirit. Home offices work too, though for a different reason. A wall of books on camera says a lot in a second.

Mixing It With Real Shelves

Here is a trick worth knowing. Hang one or two real floating shelves right over the print. Put a few actual books and a small plant on them. The real objects sit in front of the printed ones and the whole wall gains depth. It works far better than either the print or the shelves alone.

Colors to Build Around

Bright spine prints already carry every color, so keep the room plain. White or soft gray walls beside it. Plain bedding. One color picked out from the print and used twice. Old leather prints are easier. They sit with brown, green, brass and warm wood. A dark green chair beside a leather spine wall is a very old pairing and it still works.

Small Rooms and Odd Walls

Shelf prints run in horizontal bands. That is useful. Bands make a narrow room look wider and a low ceiling less low. It also means the print copes well with a wall broken up by a door. The rows simply carry on either side and nothing looks half-cut.

Will It Fool Anyone?

From the doorway, often yes. Up close, no, and that is fine. A bookshelf wall mural is not really trying to trick you. It is doing what a wall of books does for a room. It adds warmth, color and the sense that somebody lives there. Judge it from where people usually stand, which is rarely closer than a few feet.

Caring for the Wall

A printed shelf never needs dusting, which is half the appeal. Wipe it down now and then with a soft damp cloth. Keep the brightest spine designs out of hard direct sun if you can, the same as you would with a real book jacket.

Sizing, Finish and Fitting

Send us the width and height of your wall. We scale the art to match, so the shelf lines land level and a spine never gets clipped in a corner. Matt finishes look best here, since a sheen makes printed paper look shiny. Peel and stick bookshelf wallpaper lifts off clean, so browse our removable wallpaper range if that suits. Choose paste-the-wall for a room staying as it is. Panels arrive numbered. Shipping is free on every order.