Sparring bookcase from Elfa in white with books, vases and other decorative items.

Sparring bookcase from Elfa in white with books, storage boxes and decorative items.

Plan your Sparring shelf

Build your Sparring shelving system in 3 steps

Elfa’s classic wall-mounted "Sparring" shelving system consists of wallbands, brackets and solid shelves in melamine. Perfect as a bookshelf or side table, complete with different bookends. Available in many different dimensions to fit under stairs or sloping ceilings, for example.

Sparring bookcase from Elfa with wallbands in grey and melamine shelves in white.

1. Measure your space and choose the height of the wallbands

Home office with desk and Sparring bookcase from Elfa under a sloping ceiling.

The height of the Sparring wallbands is determined according to the size of the space. If you have a sloping ceiling, you can choose to combine shorter and taller wallbands to maximise surface storage. The distance you should have between the wallbands depends on what you are going to store. For heavier objects, such as books, we recommend placing the wallbands closer together. See recommended weights and distances below.

RECOMMENDED WEIGHT CAPACITY
Max. recommended weight spaced evenly across the system
Width	45 (cc 451 mm)	60 (cc 607 mm)	90 (cc 902 mm)
Weight	40 kg	30 kg	20 kg

2. Determine the depth of solid shelves and brackets

A home office with Elfa’s classic wall-mounted "Sparring" shelving system, a black office chair and a wooden stool.

What you are going to have on the shelves affects the choice of shelf plan. The shelf plans are available in different depths and widths and are good for different purposes. If the finished widths do not fit, it is possible to cut them. Remember to cut the least visible side or complete with edging.

You can also choose to replace the bracket with a shelf end bracket. These are available in depths of 25, 30 and 40 cm.

Living room with a combined home office and play area from Elfa.

Recommended shelf depths

Smaller sideboard and decoration 25 cm
Bookcase for large and small books 30 cm
Storage 40 cm
Desk 50 cm

In one system, you can combine different depths to maximise space and create dynamics. In a desk solution, we usually combine 30 cm deep shelves with the 50 cm deep desk shelf.

3. Adding accessories

Children’s books held in place with Sparring book supports in grey from Elfa.

There are several clever accessories for the Sparring system. For example, you can choose between three different types of bookends. There are also brackets for clothes rails as well as extra deep and extra shallow brackets. The deep one is reinforced to withstand the extra weight. The shallow one fits well in a narrower passage or above radiators.

There are several options for attaching your shelves. You can choose to screw the shelves in place from below, or you can secure them with pins that hook into the bracket. There are also joiners for positioning two shelves next to each other.

See accessories