Furnishing my apartment has been a very slow process, and today I finally purchased a book shelf which is the last major piece I wanted for my living area. Next up I have to get working on the bedroom, but today I thought I'd speak on the book shelf and all the considerations that went into it. Now I do not want this to sound too braggy, like 'hey look at me and new bookshelf'. These things I share are meant to be beneficial. For example, a lot of things I'm going to talk about were new to me and a lot of learning resulted from it. Besides if you think I'm getting too high and mighty, pretty much flip to any page here and find at least one article for a change of perspective.
First I had to decide where to put the bookshelf so that I knew what size to start looking for. The location was fairly straightforward but the size was not. 48 inches wide is a standard size, but my chosen spot is 58 inches wide. While 48 inches would fit great in that location, in the future if I move that might look too small. Instead I decided to try and fill up that area as much as I could, and went with 54 inches wide and 80 inches tall. 80 inches was chosen because at barely over 80 inches I have a giant fire alarm jutting out of my wall that I can't do anything about. I'm hoping the bookshelf will sit into the carpet a bit and give me an extra centimeter or so of wiggle room.
Good, dimensions were set. Next I had to figure out a style. That too was fairly simple. I have a sofa table that was made by the Amish, and I could just get my bookshelf made in the same style and wood type and stain. But again I started thinking about the future. If I move, my bookshelf may be no where near my sofa table and the style may not look right. My sofa table is in soft maple which I really like, but I also adore cherry. And the price for both happened to be the same. In the end I decided cherry was going to be a bit too dark for a book shelf. I think I will do my bedroom in cherry, making it look formal. But the bookshelf will be in soft maple with a lighter stain on it. When it comes to wood the main type I don't like is oak. For me the problem with oak is the grain which is too heavy and doesn't make pretty patterns. Cherry has an amazing grain but it's dark and the wood itself tends to be expensive. Maple is a pretty good in between with a very nice grain, lighter color and is typically a little less in price than cherry. I decided to go with the soft maple in the same style as my sofa table. I like the style, and saw no reason to change it and try to predict what new style I may prefer if I were to move.
Next up I had to deal with the construction. Nowadays furniture tends to be made with veneers. Veneers are when they take plywood and tack on a very thin sheet of solid wood on top. Good furniture uses a special furniture grade plywood, and it's used for two main reasons. First it's cheaper and lighter. Second, and more practically, it tends not to warp. Solid wood can warp and completely ruin a piece of furniture. However storing the piece in a well controlled humidity free environment will prevent warping from occurring. I also was not happy about paying so much for a bunch of nice looking plywood. I wanted solid wood. I found my bookshelf was going to have a veneer back and veneer shelves. The shelves were veneer because if they warp they can get stuck. I asked them to make the shelves out of solid wood anyway, but let them keep the back veneer. No one sees it, would add a ton of weight, probably significantly increase my cost, and a veneer back is pretty typical even on high end furniture.
Dimensions, wood and stain, wood construction check. Now the tricky part. The style I chose has room for three doors which are about 2 feet tall at the bottom. My main concern is that I felt three wood doors might look a bit hokey for two reasons. First, I thought the bookshelf would look a bit closed off, and make the piece more imposing than open. Second, I was concerned about the handles which would have two on the right and one on the left or vice versa. I could go with the magnetic style where you push it in and it pops out, but I think that lacks class. Another option would be to have a glass door in the middle. That option intrigued me because the glass would open the book shelf up a bit. Of course I could just remove the door entirely and have three open shelves in the middle. That would extend the book case a bit and be a very similar style to my sofa table which also has two doors and shelves in the middle. But the option I went with is two doors on the sides and three drawers in the middle. The drawers are going to be constructed with the smart-glide technology. It is so cool, you can't slam them shut. Instead no matter how hard who push it in, at a certain point the technology takes over and gently closes it the rest of the way. I think the only way the drawers could be better is if they had the small liners in between. In really old furniture the makers would put in small sheets of wood in between the drawers, like miniature shelves that aren't used. I'm not sure what the purpose of them was. Mom said it was to keep things from falling from one drawer into another, but I've never in my life had such a scenario occur. Anyway, I'm going with the drawer option.
Finally I had to decide what to do about the knobs and handles. My sofa table has the same handles on the drawers (three drawers above the doors and open shelf) and doors, but I wanted to do something different. I wanted the doors on the side to have handles (the kind were you put your fingers underneath) going up and down and then have knobs of the same family as the handles on the three drawers. I think that will give a good variation.
The piece will be done in about 7 weeks, and I'm excited for it. I have too many books right now scattered all over my apartment, on the floor and stacked on my furniture. The cool thing about the Amish, who are going to be making it, is that the constructor will sign it like a piece of art.
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