Shelving and Display Advice!

[Captain Craig]

Source: I have them

LOL! post of the night

[pud333]

Yeah, I might have to build my own. I have the larger books that won't fit in them and plan on getting the Hellboy Library Editions. Thanks

For collections like ours where you have books as tall as 13-14 inches, I think it is best to just build them yourself. Mine will be done and installed probably this weekend. I'll post photos as soon as I can.

[kodave]

For collections like ours where you have books as tall as 13-14 inches, I think it is best to just build them yourself. Mine will be done and installed probably this weekend. I'll post photos as soon as I can.

Are you just doing it off the top of your head? Did you look up a guide or plans somewhere?

[The Whovian]

For collections like ours where you have books as tall as 13-14 inches, I think it is best to just build them yourself. Mine will be done and installed probably this weekend. I'll post photos as soon as I can.

Cool, I'd like to see them

[pud333]

Are you just doing it off the top of your head? Did you look up a guide or plans somewhere?

I was trying to hide a foundation wall that jutted out from the wall 6 inches, so I did that by designing builtins. I basically designed them off the top of my head, but I did reference some photos on Pintrest just to get an idea of what looks good. I'll post when I'm done with details on how they were made.

[pud333]

Okay, as promised, here are some photos. This was such an awkward problem to overcome, what with the 6" foundation wall and the plumbing on the east wall that needed to stay accessible. (I wasn't about to pay to move plumbing, as it would have been a major job and cost me a small fortune. So we built around it). It's not completed yet, there's still some work to be done, such as a cover to hide the plumbing on the bottom corner, and some casing to cover some seams, especially on the back wall, but it looks pretty good so far. My contractor's cabinet/shelving guy did this for me as part of our reno, so don't ask me how much it cost, because I just had a general budget for cabinets and shelving in my entire home, and tried to fit as much as I could into the budget. But based on what I did overall, it was cheaper to go this route for me than to go with buying high end bookshelves. Plus, this way I had it exactly how I needed it to hide that foundation wall.

The basics:

- I went with custom shelving to solve my problems because it was just easier, and I really couldn't find adequate shelves to make it look nice enough and be durable enough.
- All the shelves except the top two on the far left are removable / adjustable. The ones of the far left I wanted fixed and secured at 15" height.
- It's a combination of plywood and melamine (that's the stuff typically done for ikea shelves). Plywood for all the shelves so they don't bend / bow easily, as well as plywood for the gables since that made sure the strength of the shelves as a whole stood up over time. Some melamine for the backing. The majority is plywood.
- The shelves are shorter than typical Ikea Billy length. I wanted it broken up more with more support, instead of having long shelves that would more likely sag and bend over time.
- White paint. I insisted on paint safe for books and bookshelves, so they assured me it would be fine. Not sure exactly the paint used, but it's your basic white. I'm not worried about it at all. Thought about the natural look but with the hardwood floors, it was just too much wood for the room, which is being dubbed our media room. On the opposite side of the room will be the TV built-in / entertainment centre, and in the space below the back shelves, that's where a large couch will be. The idea was to turn a spare forth bedroom into a media room, with the option to turn it back into a bedroom if necessary. (Basically if we have a third kid, we'd have to put them somewhere). I'll be surrounded by my books!
- For the ends, I had them do a shaker style design. It's classic, and timeless, so it will always be in style.
- So far, the idea is to put the oversized books on the left shelf (Absolutes, Library Editions, deluxes, etc.), Regular trades on the back shelf, as well as the right shelf. I haven't thought too much about it, but all the other shelves are adjustable, so I'm not too concerned right now. It was recommended to wait at least one week for the paint to really dry and settle before I put anything on it. It'll be a while yet until we move in - so much to do - but for now, a few quick shots. When it's all done, I think it'll look sweet with all my books. In a couple weeks when I'm settled, I'll post photos in the collection thread.

[chicainery]

Okay, as promised, here are some photos.

Wow. That looks great. I can't wait to see the photos when your books are all in. Congrats on the new house and the excellent shelves!

[The Whovian]

Okay, as promised, here are some photos.

That looks amazing. Please post pics when you get your books up

[pud333]

Wow. That looks great. I can't wait to see the photos when your books are all in. Congrats on the new house and the excellent shelves!

That looks amazing. Please post pics when you get your books up

Thanks guys. Hopefully I'll have them all up in a couple weeks.

[John Aston]

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up two legal file cabinets. Combined, they replaced 15 long boxes. Why didn't I search for these things sooner? Four more to go.

[John Keyt]

Very nice Pud333 . Those look impressive . Very good use of wall space .

[pud333]

Very nice Pud333 . Those look impressive . Very good use of wall space .

Thanks. Coming to the end of the reno. Well, closer to it. So hopefully I'll be able to put my collection up soon. That said, there's a lot of space. My collection will look a bit silly with all the extra space, but there's room to grow, which is the point.

[SpideyAZ]

Painting or adding graphics to the cabinets?

[pud333]

Painting or adding graphics to the cabinets?

I thought about it but truthfully, the eclectic art and design on the books themselves, not to mention all the colour, adds a lot without me doing anything else to the shelves. But at one point I did want to paint the back of the shelves a dark colour so that the white shelves would pop. I feel like it would be too much, but you never know what I might want in the future.

[kodave]

Can anyone with an Ikea Billy bookshelf tell me what the interior height of the shelf space is for a single shelf if you space all the shelves equally?

Also, if you have the wider Billy bookshelf, how thick is the wood for the shelves? 3/4" or a full 1"?

Thanks!

Edit:

I see this was posted before:

If you have all the shelves of equal height it gives you 30cm's per shelf. This gives you enough space to comfortably fit OHC sized books with finger room at the top. Unfortunately if you need to make room for some bigger volumes (like Fear Agent library editions) you'll need to sacrifice height elsewhere. The shelves adjust in steps of about 3.5 cm, if you take that off one shelf you can still fit TPB's on them comfortably, but nothing else. Strangely enough, the height extenders are slightly taller, they're about 33cm which gives you just enough room for the Fear Agent library editions or similar.

I guess my second question still stands though.

Has anyone come across any other mass production bookshelves lately?

I'm trying to find something with a closed back (even if it is just crappy cardboard) but also has sturdy shelving structure and at least 13" of space per shelf. And I'd also like to be able to put doors on the front. But the Kallax is completely open on both sides, Cubicals are partially open and aren't tall enough on the shelf, and Billy bookshelves might not be tall enough either per shelf.

And I feel like if I did it myself, between the time cost and the materials cost, it will be just as expensive as buying some pre-made particleboard thing.

Maybe I can just win the lottery and get custom shelves built for my space.