Adding Bookcases to the Living Room

We're tackling (mentally) a bookcase project. Whether we buy, or build, is the question. Aubrey has a lot of amazing books and it's time that they found a permanent home. We've decided that we're adding bookcases into our living room, framing the entrance to the dining room.

Here is a picture of the living room in progress.



The first thought was obviously IKEA. Inexpensive, and an immediate fix. We would put up shelves and then add moulding around it to make it appear "un-Ikea-ish". I've seen it done, and it can look quite nice. However, the issue with our room is that the left side of the doorway is narrower than the right side. 1 Ikea bookshelves could potentiall work on the left side, but we'd have to do 2 bookcases on the right hand side. My stumbling block? I'd really love to make it so that the right side was all 1 shelf, not 2 put together. I think we ruled out Ikea.



Confused? I don't blame you. I even did a diagram to help me keep my thoughts (and measurements) together. There is a reason why this bookshelf hasn't happened sooner (apart from the basement being the #1 priority) but we haven't been able to figure out what to do.



We went to Naked Furniture here in Toronto and I think we'd have the most luck in terms of style, and being able to specify the right dimensions (they will custom make the shelves) but the price was more than we had originally anticipated, but it's not ruled out.

Some friends were over yesterday and I was remarking about our dilema and one friend said something about Amish Furniture. I made a mental note, and did a google today and found this site.



Their website states " Our Amish builders create custom wood furniture made just for you. That’s affordable choice." Hmmmm. I wonder what they consider "affordable"...as my "affordable" is likely a LOT less than someone elses.

I told Aubrey today ... "Hey, you could probably just MAKE some, it wouldn't be that hard." Surprisingly he didn't storm off at the idea of me putting another project on his plate, but he did say that if he did make them, it would have to wait a little bit as we have other projects on the go (Back Door, Basement Bathroom). I feel slightly guilty for throwing a project at him, but I'd help, and it would probably save us some funds that need to go to other areas of the house.

We haven't decided what route to go yet - either buying or making them ourselves. Suggestions welcomed. :)