Shelves and storage in a non-vertical wall yurt

[UKadventurer]

Our yurts are an interesting non-traditional design. The walls are curved vertically and horizontally, whereas traditional designs have vertical walls. Think of an igloo shape and you'll get the idea.

So this makes shelves even more challenging because the radius changes depending on the height and you can't put tall furniture close to the wall. I like to design things in 3d using Blender3d. It's not specifically for yurts but it helps me wrap my head around 3 dimensional problems.

We've got 3 tall shelf units but they have to be so far away from the wall to fit, there's a ton of wasted space behind them. I may just have to use them in our rectangular hallway and/or our shipping containers. They simply don't work well, unless I cut them into half heights units.

So I'm working on a design for custom shelving that would fit our yurts/gers. If anybody can help me brainstorm shelf systems, it would be greatly appreciated.

Have a peek and share your thoughts.

This is the simplest idea with different depth shelves depending on the vertical position on the wall. The shelves are just supported at the edges by the posts of the gear and the middle ring above. The wood could be MDF or similar and the hangers, threaded rod and nuts.



I thought about the hanging system and they threaded rods might be better replaced by flat steel bar with holes. Except in the middle. Also, simple clothes hanging rods (thick dowel) can be supported from above too.

[Bob Rowlands]

'Architectural Digest' material right there folks. Clean spartan powerful lines. Good stuff. Thanks.

[UKadventurer]

I made a few combination desks and shelves for now. They look like this:







I generally use leftover off-cuts for structural lumber. The first shelves I did were in the living room. We had recently had a central

heating

system installed with 5 radiators heated by a semi-coke briquette boiler. So I decided to put shelves over them. The lower shelf is deeper than the higher shelf so it can be used as a desk. These used 5x10cm lumber (actual 2"x4") which is a bit of overkill.

When I did the bedroom version of the radiator, I decided to try 4x4cm lumber being careful to avoid any knots. It turned out to be sufficiently strong and much more low profile.

One departure from the original design was, I used linear front and back shelf top pieces. So they are parallel instead of cut to fit the shape of the curved wall. It simplifies the design and I only lose about 10cm (4") depth in the middle of shelf. So I didn't mind losing a bit of depth on a 60cm (24") deep shelf to gain simplicity.

The structural lumber is probably Siberian larch which is our only choice in Mongolia. The shelf tops are a glue-lam panel made from strips of solid wood, similar in concept to butcher's block. I don't care for laminated particle board so I chose the glue-lam. They call it zig-zag panel here, probably due to the finger(?) joints.

[skihuckster]

My first thought was "check out Dekay's crafts on YouTube for inspiration". There's some creative ways of doing things there. Might not address your need exactly but will get the juices flowing.

IMHO what would blow it through the roof would be to use shelves made of mill-sawn logs that retain all the contours of the tree trunk, with a good thick coat of poly. Then the only "square" dimension you'd be honoring would be the level of your surfaces!

[UKadventurer]

Originally Posted by skihuckster

My first thought was "check out Dekay's crafts on YouTube for inspiration". There's some creative ways of doing things there. Might not address your need exactly but will get the juices flowing.

IMHO what would blow it through the roof would be to use shelves made of mill-sawn logs that retain all the contours of the tree trunk, with a good thick coat of poly. Then the only "square" dimension you'd be honoring would be the level of your surfaces!

Looks like an interesting channel. Thanks for the tip.