Any advice for building awesome bookshelves?

May 18, 2004 3:40 PM

Any advice for building awesome bookshelves? I'm moving into a new, small apartment, have a ton of books, and need to build some fairly easy, but also nice-looking, bookshelves for cheap. If they're adjustable, that's even better!

. . .. And in general, any advice for furnishing and living in a small apartment, in Boston or anywhere else? It's a beautiful place, and we're trying to find well-designed, non-cheesy furniture that works in a small apartment and doesn't cost a millioin bucks.

posted by josh to Home & Garden (27 answers total)

Do you have any alcoves or recesses (ie either side of a chimney breast) that they could fit in?

If so, I have the knowledge...
posted by i_cola at 3:46 PM on May 18, 2004

Response by poster: P.S.: These tensegrity bookshelves are totally sweet!
posted by josh at 3:46 PM on May 18, 2004

Response by poster: No, sadly, no recesses -- the room where we're looking to build them is about ten feet wide, so we were thinking freestanding bookshelves.
posted by josh at 3:47 PM on May 18, 2004

Do you have access to a wood shop, or at least to a table saw?
posted by nicwolff at 3:50 PM on May 18, 2004

Response by poster: I won't really have acccess to a wood shop -- but I will have tools (a drill, a level, a saw, etc.). And I could take my wood to a wood shop, and then carry it back.
posted by josh at 3:52 PM on May 18, 2004

Ten years ago, I asked my father to build me some nice bookshelves, but he said that for the price, you can't beat the units you can buy at unfinished furniture places. Plus, you can finish them however you want.
posted by mischief at 3:54 PM on May 18, 2004

don't know about the states, particularly, but many places will cut wood to size when you buy it, so not owning a saw might not be a problem.
posted by andrew cooke at 3:58 PM on May 18, 2004

...find a carpenter. Doesn't have to be a cabinet builder...a
decent handy man carpenter will do a good job at a decent price if you shop around. Can do things like build shelf/desk units to fit, TV hole etc.

You can come up with your own ideas/style & get good quality to boot. On no account, go to IKEA. Their furniture will fall apart before too long.

[My carpenter friend made three built-in floor-to-ceiling shelf units, one with computer desk, one with cupboard & one with TV hole & built a bed frame on a mezzanine he constructed from light-gauge scaffolding that he'd been given all for GBP 700 ($1200).]

On preview: You could go for a 1ft deep unit that covers the whole wall & stores everything so you could go for thee zen-look everywhere else ;-) Maybe push-door catches (no need for handles) on doors to hide all the shelves/compartments?
posted by i_cola at 3:58 PM on May 18, 2004

one of these places should be good, and cheap--you finish them, as mischief says. Otherwise Ikea's ok too.
posted by amberglow at 4:00 PM on May 18, 2004

I was going to build some shelves myself, but after pricing out the wood, I found it was cheaper just to get the Ikea Ivar shelves and paint them. I think they look great and are expandable, and adjustable.
posted by milovoo at 4:10 PM on May 18, 2004

I hear mixed things about Ikea sometimes, but everything I've bought there, (an entire bedroom set) has been wonderful. They've got some great shelving systems.
posted by GeekAnimator at 4:14 PM on May 18, 2004

If "cheap" is an important criterion, it's gonna be tough to beat Ikea.
posted by mr_roboto at 4:20 PM on May 18, 2004

Response by poster: Well, cheap is not hugely important -- I've owned Ikea shelves before, and they're definitely nice, but I don't know if I really want to fill an entire wall of my tiny apartment with Ikea shelving. I'm sort of looking forward to building bookshelves as a fun summer project and am willing to spend some money on wood, etc.
posted by josh at 4:23 PM on May 18, 2004

Response by poster: In other words -- cheap is good -- but 'awesomeness,' as noted above, is better!
posted by josh at 4:23 PM on May 18, 2004

*shudders*
posted by i_cola at 4:24 PM on May 18, 2004

josh: See if you have a wood recycling project near you...some great wood can be found in those places.
posted by i_cola at 4:28 PM on May 18, 2004

I've always kind of enjoyed these pipe bookshelves by jwz. Other options for small apartments include loft beds with bookshelves/desk underneath [good for winter, heat rises!]. You can make these or buy pre-fab ones or buy plans and build from those. The best bookshelves will be ones that fit your space, and in an apartment you may be limited to how much you can attach to walls/floors/ceilings, etc. My best advice is that you can get away with plywood for the actual shelving if you face it with something fancier.
posted by jessamyn at 5:31 PM on May 18, 2004

Josh: I've always wanted to make tensegrity furniture like the stuff you've linked to. I don't actually have any tools so I've never done it but it's nice to see it's feasible. I'll need to furnish an apartment soon...
posted by kenko at 6:11 PM on May 18, 2004

There's a series of books (by Better Homes and Gardens? I don't have one handy) that cover lots of home repair and remodelling projects. In particular, I once had one on storage systems, and built a pretty nifty full-wall shelf. The books are sold in places like Home Depot.
posted by Daddio at 7:11 PM on May 18, 2004

Also consider wall-mounted shelves - just a nicely finished plank on some cool brackets. (Make sure you properly mount them as per your wall type.) They're quite useful in small places where a full bookshelf might be too bulky, or if you have some unused wall space above a console table or something. I installed wall shelves in my somewhat cramped bedroom - low enough where I can grab books, but high enough where I won't smack into them when getting in and out of bed.
posted by Sangre Azul at 10:06 PM on May 18, 2004

Take a look at your books and make sure you don't buy/build too much deeper than you really need.
posted by scarabic at 10:56 PM on May 18, 2004

making stuff is easy. just draw what you want and measure it up. really, it's not at all difficult if you understand "how things work". if you understand why a lever is like it is, and why you need a back plane or a diagonal brace, or a wall fastening for your book shelves then simply make something. it's not hard and you'll get exactly what you want.

the only real problem is not knowing what raw materials are available, and that means just walking round diy stores. last weekend i made wall mounts for speakers from commerical shelf supports, wood, and adjustable feet for furniture. the feet were critical (they clamp the speakers in place - we have earthquakes), and i found them just by walking round a store looking at all the different bits until i found soemthing that would do the job.
posted by andrew cooke at 9:55 AM on May 19, 2004

I am opening a shop, I am handy and can build nice looking shelves with my eyes closed. BUT, to build cool shelving for retail was a spendy proposition. I live 7 hours drive from IKEA but ordered 6 sets of the EXPEDIT book shelf. It is strong, nice to look at and UNBEATABLE in price. I simply could not build them for the price (159.00). You can see a few snaps of them in place at Unravelshop.com. Another spanky alternative is smartfurniture.com. Neat stuff, not expensive, built to last - very flexible usage!
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 11:55 AM on May 19, 2004

i found them just by walking round a store looking at all the different bits until i found soemthing that would do the job.

This is the most fun thing ever to do and I recommend it highly. As Sangamon Taylor says in Neal Stephenson's "Zodiac," nothing in a hardware store ever gets used for its nominal purpose.

Simple example. When I moved into my apartment, I discovered they wouldn't let me mount my satellite dish directly to the building, or even to my porch railing. So I needed to come up with some kind of freestanding solution, one with enough weight at the bottom to keep it from tipping over. Wandered around Home Depot for an hour and ended up buying a concrete thingy that I believe is usually used to hold up decks, plus a 3' length of treated 4x4 which I attached with screws to the metal tongue protruding from the concrete base. I have no idea whether this was an original idea (I might have copied it unconsciouly) but it's worked well, and the dishes that have sprouted up here since I put mine up have all used the same solution.

I'm going to need new bookshelves after I move and I intend to use the same solution: walk around Home Depot and see what jumps out at me. A friend of mine reports good results with simple planks (painted) and cinder blocks (also painted); I might try that. Although securing them to the wall (for earthquake purposes) might be problematic.
posted by kindall at 12:11 PM on May 19, 2004

I've also had great results with planks and cinderblocks. I didn't bother to secure them, though... earthquakes aren't common here, and I figure that everything else in the apartment would fall over, anyway, so why not the shelves, too?
posted by vorfeed at 1:48 PM on May 19, 2004

(not sure if it was clear, but i mentioned fastening the shelves to the wall to stop an unbraced, rectangular-framed bookcase from collapsing sideways when loaded with books (like a trapezium) - not for earthquakes. apologies if people were just joking... :o)
posted by andrew cooke at 3:20 PM on May 19, 2004

I've had my pine-plank-and-cinderblock shelves for seven years now. The cinderblock is very easy to paint since it dries really fast and is forgiving of sloppiness - it will chew up your paintbrushes though. A friend of mine had lovely ones with the boards stained a cherrywood color and the blocks painted black, with the flat sides turned out. It looked great and not at all cheap.

You can't beat the price. And, of course, they break down easily. A set that was shelving in my last apt. is now a TV stand in this one. Yes, they're a pain to move, but they last forever and they're quite stable; I build mine to lean against the wall. I don't know I'd trust them in an earthquake however. ;)
posted by Melinika at 5:30 PM on May 19, 2004