AKICO, bookshelf edition

[oyceter]

So! After half a year, my new apartment is almost (almost!) ready for shelving! I.e. I have gotten nearly all bits of other furniture in place so I can squash shelves into every remaining space.

Anyone have shelving recommendations? Stuff available in the US, especially Bay Area California preferred.

Preferences:

1. I do not like deep shelves or double stacking.
   
2. I am good with separating out trade/HC from mass markets for optimal shelving sizing.
   
3. I have a lot of manga.
   
4. I do not like shelves with doors, windows, glass panes, or anything that gets between me and my books.
   
5. I do not like shelves that waste vertical space.
   
6. I like longer horizontal spaces. I.e. I don't like really really really short shelves, a la Ikea's Expedit or those skinny DVD shelving towers.
   

Comments

[mme_hardy]

If you're allowed to do it, you'll get maximum shelf space by hanging shelves into the studs. That way you can space them exactly as far apart as is needed, and no more. Unfinished boards (for long stretches, better than particle board) are pretty cheap and can move with you from apt. to apt.

[oyceter]

Sweet! Do you know anything about how many books a shelf could hold, or how many I could stick on a wall?

... this is when I think I probably should not ever live in earthquake country.

[veejane]

Caveatting the fact that I know nooothing about earthquake-life, I can say that the whole point of attaching things to the studs of a wall is that you can attach heavy, heavy things and they'll stay up. The studs are the big long vertical boards, usually 16" apart from one another, firmly attached to the rest of the house, so they're pretty strong. You can make a shelf strong by attaching it firmly to studs, and attaching it with a good attacher-thing (long screws rather than nails, e.g.), and attaching it to many studs to distribute the load nicely.

That said, all the rentals I know about don't look too kindly at renters drilling into walls. In which case a board-and-cinderblock structure, or similar, is the same principle without the drilling.

[veejane]

Okay, apparently the cinderblock option is counter-indicated in an earthquake zone. (If Metafilter is to be believed: http://ask.metafilter.com/111916/Where-can-I-buy-an-affordable-bookcase).

That thread has a couple of alternate suggestions, though, including the ever-popular "troll Craigslist and be patient" option. Speaking as someone who spends a lot of time on Craigslist, I will say that you can indeed find good shelves in hardwood (i.e. that don't bow). But to find them in a floor-to-ceiling bookcase is always expensive. Have you considered an open-front hutch? It'll be a drawer or two and a cabinet below, and open shelves above. I've seen them as big as 6' wide and 8' tall, but you'll probably want a bit smaller than that.

[oyceter]

Hrm, I checked my rental agreement and there's nothing about drilling, although I'm sure that doesn't mean they're okay with it....

My problem with most bookcases isn't the price necessarily, it's that they're almost all built to be 12" deep, which basically means double stacking. And a lot of commercial bookshelves give you about a foot or so of vertical room, which is also wasted if you're shelving manga or mass markets.... I know you still have to bolt the shallower shelves to walls, but hopefully not studs?

[veejane]

Wallmounts always want studs. If they can't get studs they go with mollies (plastic or steel screw-anchors) into wallboard. (Can't use mollies on plaster walls at all.) But mollies are even more damaging to a wall than a big hole in it -- they're a big hole anchored in to stay that way. If you're attaching to a wall, and you want that wall to be easily returned to its pristine state, go studs.

(You can't attach wallmounts to wallboard without anchors, because they'll just rip off when they get any weight on them. Wallboard just isn't that strong a material.)

Do have a look at some of the older hutches, if you want shallow shelves. A lot of them, the bottom part is deeper (16", 20") but the top is meant for dishes or even plate display, so they're often quite shallow. Not adjustable for height, usually, but 8" or 9" vs. 12" may make a difference to your perception of their usefulness.

[veejane]

Now that I am on Craigslist (there goes my evening), this is what I mean by hutch: http://boston.craigslist.org/nwb/fuo/3230441801.html

I mean, okay, it is a hideous example unless you, like, want to store all your fishing gear or bobbins in one massive unit. But you can see how much shallower the shelves are than the lower cabinet portion.

[oyceter]

HEE! Yeah, I love the shallower top shelves, but given how many shelves I am probably going to have, am going for shallower bottoms as well, or my apartment is going to start feeling really fenced in...

[coffeeandink]

I usually spackle in the holes and paint over them when I am ready to leave, and haven't had a problem. Then again, NY landlords expect to paint over for each new tenant anyway.

[oyceter]

I think I may end up going the studs + wall mounts route, with additional freestanding unfinished media shelves for some things, yay!

[thistleingrey]

One thing that can be done in earthquake country: add an elastic with knobby ends that you can hook on/off, like a book seat belt, or (less aesthetically) tie a ribbon around each shelfworth.

[mme_hardy]

Heee. I'm about to measure, although you will certainly have to check with your landlord. Come the Big One we are going to die of books, no question.

[lnhammer]

#1 means I've got nothing for ya. (We're in the process of replacing our last couple of non-Billy bookcases with the real thing, the next chance we have to drive 90 miles to the nearest IKEA, in no small part because they double-stack so well.)

---L.

[oyceter]

Hrm, okay. How do you guys manage your double stacking?

[telophase]

Im not lnhammer, but when I was double-stacking, I got styrofoam from the craft store and made risers for the back row. It was still annoying to have to pull the front row out to access the back, but at least I could see what was there. (Also, I ended up putting the finished manga series back there and left the unfinished series I was actively collecting, and any series I was using for art reference, in the front.)

[oyceter]

Risers! That is awesome! It's annoying pulling stuff out, but my biggest problem with double stacking is how much it slows down me scanning the shelves looking for something I'm in the mood to read...

[lnhammer]

It varies by section and need. Where a section has books of highly variable size, such as poetry, smaller ones stack horizontally in back while large ones are vertical in front. Where there's a lot of the same size, such as YA trade pb, it's more typically both inner and outer in the same orientation, with the most likely wanted books in front (such as DWJ).

(Dang it, I kleep clicking the wrong button.)

---L.

[jinian]

We did this: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wsfa-forum/message/3764, and it works great. If you don't want to build things, I second the Craigslist and risers recommendations.

[oyceter]

I am always so tempted by that, except I am pretty sure I would buy the boards, let the project languish for a year, and then find that everything had warped =(.

[jinian]

Well, I am here visiting rushthatspeaks, and we have caused there to be more available shelving. Maybe you just need me to come visit. :)

Boards definitely warp fairly quickly, but you can get a four-foot width of these put together in a day really easily.

[oyceter]

Heeeee, that would be awesome.

[rilina]

If you have tall bookshelves in earthquake country, you should probably be strapping them to a stud even if they are freestanding pieces of furniture. So that's a hole in the wall anyway, though yes, still fewer than a full set of wall-mounted shelves.

For the IKEA Billy Bookshelves, you can buy extra shelves to make better use of the vertical space--that's what I did when I lived in CA. I got 8 rows out of a tall shelf rather than 6. It's pretty good but not perfect for manga (taller sizes of manga didn't quite fit on some of the rows, IIRC).

I got my current manga shelves at an unfinished wood furniture store. They were meant for DVDs, but the bookcases are a full 24" wide. Also, all the shelf heights are adjustable, so I have some super short shelves for mass markets and some taller ones for larger GNs. They're just the right depth for manga, but they are a bit tippy (and I have cats that try to scale walls), so I have them attached to studs with earthquake straps. If (or when?) there's an earthquake up here, everything will probably fall off them, but at least the entire unit won't come down on my or my cats' heads.

[rilina]

I didn't purchase from this store, but the 60 x 24 looks similar to what I have (though mine are a fantastic 80" high).

[oyceter]

Oooo thanks for the link! Sigh. While I love my moldings, I am annoyed that they will get in the way of floor-to-ceiling shelves!

[rilina]

There are lots of online options for them, and I'm sure there is some store local to you as well. For me, the advantage of getting mine locally is that they assembled and finished them for a fee. (A one bedroom apt with two cats is not the place to do a DIY wood finishing/painting project.)

[thistleingrey]

One consideration: Fenton MacLaren. Three locations--Rockridge has the fanciest stuff, as one'd expect; the northerly San Pablo Ave one is in the middle, and the southerly one has unfinished pine, IIRC. It's been awhile since I was there. They definitely do some custom stuff, for a reasonable-the-last-time-I-was-there fee.

[oyceter]

Oh awesome, thanks for the tip!