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polygon
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Where to buy tower bookcases?
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Mar 7 05:51 UTC 2002 |
Arranging books in my now-reorganized basement, it occurred to me that I
could use a couple of those 1 foot x 1 foot x 6 feet tall bookcases, also
known as "tower" bookcases. Maybe even three or four of them to fit into
various corners. Ideally they would be wood, finished in black, enclosed on
three sides, with adjustable shelves, very sturdy, easy to assemble, and
cost $30 to $40 or so.
These used to be commonplace in many stores, but to my surprise they
seem to have gone out of fashion.
- Office Max has an 18 inch by 12 inch by 6 feet tall version,
in black, for $49.99. That's a little more than I wanted to pay;
on the other hand it is 50% larger. But before I went home to
measure the spaces to see if I could fit in 18 inch wide towers,
I asked how many they had available. Oops -- they're out of stock.
- Office Depot has none
- Home Depot has none.
I'll be checking Meijer's and Target some time Thursday.
Any other ideas as to where I could find a few of these at a good price?
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| 53 responses total. |
drew
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response 1 of 53:
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Mar 7 06:59 UTC 2002 |
Gibraltar Trade Center (nowhere near Gibraltar)
Kiwanis?
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keesan
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response 2 of 53:
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Mar 7 15:37 UTC 2002 |
Are you a total klutz and unable to make your own from cheap lumber?
You can put in metal strips with little clips to make the shelves adjustable
(at both sides).
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brighn
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response 3 of 53:
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Mar 7 15:45 UTC 2002 |
Ok, Sindi, that WAS rude, which is surprising for you.
I'm not unable to make my own from cheap lumber. I could either buy the wood,
find room in my basement or garage to cut it, measure it, learn enough about
carpentry to know how to weight it, how to attach the pieces together, finish
the wood, and so on, or I could go to Meijer or Office Depot, buy a $50 kit,
spend an hour putting it together, and throw away the box.
Valerie calls it "The curse and swear factor."
If YOU want to live in a DIY universe, Sindi, go for it, but some of us don't
mind paying a little bit more to avoid the screaming. I have things which
interest me more than carpentry to spend my time on.
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brighn
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response 4 of 53:
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Mar 7 15:46 UTC 2002 |
My post buried a response to your question, Larry: The only reliable sources
I've found have been Meijer and Office Depot. I didn't like Target's
selection.
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jmsaul
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response 5 of 53:
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Mar 7 15:53 UTC 2002 |
I'm not a total klutz, and I couldn't make my own from cheap lumber without
them looking like shit. Yes, I could go take carpentry courses, and then make
a whole bunch of stuff to get my skills to the point where I could make
bookcases I don't mind people seeing -- but all in all, it's probably more
cost effective for me to focus on the things I like doing and the things I
earn money for doing, and buy cheap bookcases that look okay instead.
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edina
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response 6 of 53:
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Mar 7 15:58 UTC 2002 |
Ikea. com
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polygon
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response 7 of 53:
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Mar 7 15:59 UTC 2002 |
Re 1. In my experience, bookshelves and filing cabinets are so valuable
to the people who prowl used furniture stores that (if they are in
reasonable shape) they are priced very high and/or sell out very quickly.
And naturally the selection is take-what-you-can-get.
Yes, I have been to the Gibraltar Trade Center, a fascinating place.
Re 2. Yes, I *am* such a klutz. I have built a few things -- I am very
proud of the cat staircase -- but it was a long and labor intensive
process. Most recently, I thought I could build a porch handrail to hold
up our mailbox, but I couldn't even get it to stay together. I ended up
hiring an experienced person to finish the job for me.
Also, I can just visualize trying to install those metal strips so that
the shelves sit nice and level. It gives me the willies just thinking
about how awful and time-consuming that would be, and how unsatisfactory
the results would be.
Re 3. Yes, I also have a lot of demands on my time, and I don't have all
the proper tools.
Re 4. Already been to Office Depot. I will get to Meijer's this
afternoon.
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polygon
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response 8 of 53:
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Mar 7 16:04 UTC 2002 |
Re 5. Very much agreed.
Re 6. Ikea's narrowest shelf unit is 24 inches, for $69.
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edina
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response 9 of 53:
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Mar 7 16:07 UTC 2002 |
It's different in the store - I know I saw smaller stuff there.
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polygon
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response 10 of 53:
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Mar 7 16:08 UTC 2002 |
Okay, but their web site doesn't list any stores in Michigan.
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slynne
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response 11 of 53:
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Mar 7 16:29 UTC 2002 |
I have a great set of bookshelves in my living room. I went and bought
not too cheap lumber and then helped my Dad cut it up. Then I started
to put it together but got frustrated and went home. I left everything
in the garage where my Dad usually parks his car. The next day when I
returned, it was magically built. Clearly, Larry, what you need to do
is get a bunch of lumber and put it into my Dad's magic garage and it
will automatically turn into bookshelves. It worked for me!
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jazz
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response 12 of 53:
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Mar 7 16:32 UTC 2002 |
Paul, if it helps, you can borrow some of the terms my team used -
starting with the good old "sub-optimal" for anything that is really horrid,
up to "high-invective procedure" for anything that's enough of a pain in the
ass that it causes you to swear out loud.
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brighn
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response 13 of 53:
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Mar 7 17:11 UTC 2002 |
there's also the 60s/70s route for cheap bookshelves: Some finished beams and
some stone supports from Frank's.
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tpryan
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response 14 of 53:
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Mar 7 19:17 UTC 2002 |
I resemble that remark. 3/4 inch construction plywood, oddly
painted, covered in a green burlap with staplegun, with grey bricks
to hold it up.
I also built myself a record self for myself. More from
the point that usual shelfs will not hold up, and 2) I had a spot
just right for it.
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keesan
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response 15 of 53:
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Mar 7 19:22 UTC 2002 |
A roommate once made me a bookshelf which still works well, out ofabout 16'
(two boards) of plain pine 1"x10", using as tools a handsaw, something to mark
a straight line on the wood perpendicular to the long dimension to cut along
(a right-angled object of any sort would do, plus a pencil), a small hammer,
and a few thin nails. To put in the little metal strips you only have to
additionally have something that will cut metal strips to length and measure
up the same distance on each side before putting in the first nail. You can
finish this all with a coat of shellac, or boiled linseed oil, both easily
washed off (with water or detergent), with a rag.
I asked about being a total klutz not as an insult but because many people
would describe themselves that way, and it gives some idea of where to start
in explaining how to do something.
I can ask Jim if he would be willing to help plan out a couple of these and
cut the boards to size. He just made a similar piece of furniture for his
housemate.
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brighn
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response 16 of 53:
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Mar 7 19:31 UTC 2002 |
... after the shellac, the tools, the wood, the nails, the swearing, the
abortive attempts, the scrap, the sawdust, the cleanup, you wind up with
mediocre-looking bookshelves where the combined cost based on parts and labor
exceeds how much it would cost to get a kit at Office Depot, where you get
a much better looking bookself.
My time is worth $30/hour. It takes me about an hour to put together one
bookshelf from Office Depot. These shelving units cost $60. Parts + labor (not
including transit and installation): $90.
If it takes me three hours to put together a bookshelf from scratch, Sindi,
that's $90 in labor. That's assuming the parts are free (which they aren't).
Putting things together from scratch may be entertaining, or fun, or what have
you, but some of us have other things we'd prefer to do with our time.
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keesan
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response 17 of 53:
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Mar 7 19:46 UTC 2002 |
A friend got a kit which turned out to be particle board, expensive particle
board, and the shelves are now sagging. Fingerle sells 8' knotty pine, 12"
wide, 3/4" thick (1x8), for as little as $1.08 per foot, or select grade for
$3.17 per foot. A 6' high tower with two sides and top and bottom and a shelf
every 12" would cost as little as $18 for the wood. The metal strips might
be a few dollars. Say $40 for two of these for materials, if you bought all
new.
Jim offered to show Larry the large bookshelf that he designed and made (for
free out of boards that used to be in his closet and salvaged metal strips),
and then help design and spec (tell him what to buy and where) and even cut
the boards for him. He said he can't cut boards better than anyone else and
I said yes he can cut a lot better than someone who has never used a saw.
So in essence Jim is offering to put together a customized kit. We can
provide nails and possibly the metal strips, and a hammer if you want to build
it while Jim watches (at our house). Jim likes to build things with screws
because they are stronger and you can take them apart for storage.
You can buy 'select' grade pine (few or no knots) for $3/foot.
You can put a thin sheet of plywood on the back to make it stiffer - we have
some you can use, I think.
Black paint should hide the knots. IF you want to pay more fo the wood and
show it off, you can use black stain.
I have not noticed my shelves sagging, even though I have piled two levels
of milk crates full of LPs on top of the bookcase.
Prices were current as of Jan 9, 2002.
You can make the sides with expensive wood and the shelves knotty.
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polygon
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response 18 of 53:
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Mar 7 21:02 UTC 2002 |
Yes, I am familiar with storebought shelves that eventually sag under a
real-life load of books. We have one such unit in our living room.
Some of the newer ones have better reinforced shelves that are less likely
to sag. But in any case, it's not a problem with the "tower" design,
where each shelf is too short to sag.
I have also built bookshelves from bricks (or concrete blocks) and boards.
Problem was that the masonry units took up a lot of space and shed grit.
Also, bare wood shelves from conifer lumber can ooze sticky sap.
Meijer's no longer carries tower bookshelves, I was told quite
authoritatively. What they do still have are "closet organizers". You
can take two 3-foot-high units and stack them. They didn't have a display
model, but from the picture, it appears that the two units are linked with
plastic pins. Not too sturdy. Also, the stackable ones are available
only in white.
Target also had the white stackable closet units, but no simple tower
shelves. The big thing at Target currently seems to be tapered shelves,
which are quite costly.
In other words, simple 1 foot square by 6 feet high bookshelf units (as a
single integral piece, not two stacking units) are not to be found
anywhere I looked.
Based on all this (and before I saw the last few responses), I went back
to Office Max and ordered two of their (still out-of-stock) black 18x12x72
inch units for $49.99 apiece.
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brighn
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response 19 of 53:
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Mar 7 22:46 UTC 2002 |
#17> Sindi, you're not informing me of any facts I am not aware of, except
Jim's altruism. I have several bookcase kits of varying ages in my home, and
while the one with the dictionaries on it sags, the rest are fine.
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other
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response 20 of 53:
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Mar 8 01:21 UTC 2002 |
I would likely build the shelves myself, but my priority parameters would
be light weight, strength and stability, then finished aesthetic.
Stability is really easy for any shelf unit which is placed against a
wall. Simply put a shim of some sort under each of the front legs,
thereby forcing the unit to lean against the wall.
I have had for years now a design in my head for a shelf unit which I
would like to build, but which I will not build out of wood because I
will not be able to achieve strength and stability and still get the
resulting clean line aesthetic I'd really like. I have to learn to weld.
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keesan
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response 21 of 53:
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Mar 8 02:04 UTC 2002 |
Particle board also gets shabby faster than wood, and either looks like what
it is or like vinyl 'veneer', which peels off. And it is much heavier than
wood and the fasteners don't hold as well in it. It outgasses.
You can fasten a shelf to the wall to make it more stable.
We are working out the details of how to convert the space over the stairway
between two upstairs rooms into two cabinets with movable shelves. The slanty
part on the bottom will have one or two fixed shelves. I asked Jim how
builders usually frame this space. They don't, they leave it open, easier.
We have to following rules about firestopping in this case.
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bru
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response 22 of 53:
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Mar 8 05:55 UTC 2002 |
we bought one recently at target, but it is only 4 feet high and 8 X 8 inches
square. Makes a real nice lampstand.
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amethyst
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response 23 of 53:
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Mar 8 20:52 UTC 2002 |
You might want to check with Organized Living (14 mi & Orchard Lake Rd.) or
even Bed, Bath & Beyond. Organized Living has more stuff, but they're more
expensive. It's one of those stores I could spend all my money in, so
I don't go there often :).
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gull
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response 24 of 53:
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Mar 9 02:54 UTC 2002 |
I buy my bookshelves. Cutting, sanding, and varnishing wood isn't very
practical in an apartment. For starters I'd probably pass out from the
varnish fumes, which are about a million times worse than any outgassing a
storebought set of shelves will do.
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