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.

[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.

[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.

[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.