Show me your built in bookshelves

and if they didn't come with your house, who made them for you? I want to install custom bookshelves in my living room, and need estimates. 

Have you seen the Ikea Billy Bookcase hacks? There's a bunch of them on Pinterest, and they look pretty good. 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/...

IKEA Billy bookcases are inexpensive, and good for a variety of uses.  I have one in my house, and have installed a number of them for other people.

However, if you plan to place heavy volumes on the shelves, do not use the 31.1/2" wide version, stay with the 16" version.  This goes for many other brands as well.

Standard furniture is made from nominal 1" (= 3/4") particle board, and those shelves will bow under the weight of heavy volumes.  You need at least 1.1/4" thickness.

Msg to Hobo:   Built-ins may or may not be a plus when it comes time to sell (depends entirely upon buyer wants).  Are you looking for sound design carpentry, or furniture grade work?

we did lots of different built ins and extensive trim work to recreate missing pieces and add "what should have been." Definitely added a lot to the character of the house, and tons of useful storage. 

Unfortunately the cabinet maker who did a lot of the work lost his business lease, but we also had a contractor with guys who did a really good job. Haven't used any of them in years but there are definitely people who can do this work. 

I also used to work for a closet design company and I would design built ins for clients that the company would install custom. 

pics of two sides of built in bookcases we added and a built in bench we added.

For some reason my pics are not showing but if you go to www.215warwickave.com you can see them.

tomcat said:


Msg to Hobo:   Built-ins may or may not be a plus when it comes time to sell (depends entirely upon buyer wants).  Are you looking for sound design carpentry, or furniture grade work?

 I'm doing this for storage, but also for aesthetic. We currently have no built ins, and dead wall space in our living room where they could work. Over the years, I've tried to compensate with purchased wall units, a console table, etc., but what I really want are built ins. So...after all these years, I'm going go for it. To answer your question, its for design first (real wood, furniture grade work) , and and storage second. I'm thinking 2 shelves and a bench with storage between, under the window. 

I can do pretty decent carpentry, but I lack a workshop to do furniture grade work (I used to work for very high end Scandinavian furniture importer, so I know what it takes).  And, from what I see in the houses I work on, a lot of built-ins are barely carpentry grade.

I’ve had Ticos do work for me several times.  Lovely built in shelving.  It’s not cheap, but neither is furniture.  And the built in shelves add more value to your home. 

I just built these in a basement in Westfield.  

www.claytoncontracting.biz